Kakashi Has Always Been Crazy
by Hieirulesall
Summary: Kakashi is turned back into a teenager. Now let's be honest, Kakashi as a child; it's a scary thought. Or maybe not. Will anyone be able to show Kakashi that it's okay to have friends, or will the young jounin destroy himself first?
1. Chapter 1

AN: This takes place very shortly before Sasuke runs away to join Orochimaru. A lot of it is AU as far as the pasts of various characters. It's been a while since I started this story, so a lot about it really needs to be edited and fixed. Please forgive any errors throughout the story. Re-reading it, I found a lot I needed to fix, but it may be a while before I actually get around to it.

Chapter 1

Kakashi watched Naruto and Sakura train, trying hard to focus. Something was wrong. He watched Sakura kick Naruto, as the boy went flying he felt his vision fade out. It came back into focus with Naruto charging back at the girl, obviously annoyed he'd been hit.

The jounin kept his features completely neutral, as always, but it was becoming harder and harder not to lose focus. It had started about a week ago. Every once in a while he would lose control, he'd start having flashes of…something. Those flashes always seemed incredibly familiar, but he couldn't place them. As if he'd seen them in a dream…or maybe they'd just happened a very long time ago.

It was only yesterday he'd begun waking up to nightmares that he only wished weren't true. All the events that had plagued him for so long would come back in his nightmares more and more frequently. They hadn't done that since he was much younger and the events had just happened. Now…

His vision faded again. He saw Naruto slam himself into Sakura. _There was a blink of a different boy with black hair._ Sakura drew out two kunai, ready to throw them. _A young man held two teenagers apart swearing he would take their heads off if they didn't stop._ Naruto created several clones. _A bunch of stone ninja seemingly appeared out of nowhere. _Flung the two knives her opponent. _A girl yelled at the boys to make them pay attention when suddenly a large rock came seemingly nowhere. _Naruto dodged them and got ready to attack again.

Kakashi could no longer hold it back and felt himself lose control completely even as his mind struggled to stay into the present.

"_This isn't about just you, you know!" Obito cried at Kakashi._

"_I never said it was," the white-haired boy responded calmly. "Just because you seem to think I'll do better…"_

"_What is the matter with you?!" Obito lifted his much smaller teammate of the ground._

"_I'm tired of doing these useless missions!" the smaller boy yelled. "I'm tired of going out and finding things for a bunch of useless fools who can't-"_

"_Kakashi!" Yondaime snapped. "I know that you're angry about doing these same things even as jounin, but it's what the village requires." The blond walked over and put his hand on Obito's shoulder._

"_Yeah," Kakashi muttered angrily. He did calm down though. His sensei always seemed to have that effect._

"_You okay now squirt?" Obito asked him, setting him down on the floor._

"_Yup!" Kakashi smiled. It was always so easy for him to bounce back. Obito was a good friend and he could rant later, they did have more important things to worry about._

"_Sensei!" Rin cried to get their attention._

_But the warning didn't come in time. Yondaime spun around in the girl's direction. She was running towards him…NO! _

_There was a loud crash and the force immediately next to him sent Kakashi flying backwards. He scrambled to his feat just as his Sensei sent several shuriken flying towards their attackers._

_Rin backed him up as Kakashi ran in the direction the rocks had hit. Where was Obito? He had been right next to him, hadn't he? The young jounin shoved piles of rocks away to find Obito lying barely alive._

Kakashi snapped to his senses. His students didn't seem to notice his lapse at all, they were still going at it, though Sakura seemed to be growing very tired at this point. The flashback left Kakashi drained tired, but he was also relieved that he hadn't become disoriented. It would have been bad if he'd gotten too freaked out to be of any use.

After watching them team spar for a while longer, Kakashi told them they were done and forced himself to do what he really didn't want to. If there was anyone who could help it was Tsunade, as much as the woman irked him. He had to find out what was wrong with him. There was no way that this was just him thinking about his past, there had to be something.

The jounin disappeared with a pop and reappeared in the same manner. He was right in front of Tsunade's desk. Said Hokage's head snapped up upon hearing the noise.

"Oh, Kakashi it's you. I really wish you didn't need to do that every time you came to say something," she growled at him.

"But if I walked through the door, how would you know it was me?" Kakashi asked cheerily.

"I would probably think someone had taken over your body," she admitted dryly. "So…what now?"

I've been having some trouble lately…" Kakashi said. He wasn't exactly sure about how to describe this, how he was feeling. Deciding to be direct for once, Kakashi explained exactly what had happened while he'd been training and explained how it had been going on for a little while now.

"That's interesting Kakashi. I'm not really sure I've heard of anything like it…" she mumbled. She was obviously very troubled by this. "When was the last time you had nightmares like this?"

Kakashi remained silent for a while. His mind started bringing up memories he would rather remained hidden even more than the ones of Obito. He gasped and held his head trying to keep them out.

"It…it…" Kakashi gasped once more as he tried to answer. Tsunade had stood up and was beside him, obviously very worried. "…about…a month…after sensei died…" just as Kakashi managed to answer, he felt himself completely drawn in like before.

"_Sensei!" Kakashi's voice cried out, more childish sounding than it had been as far back as he could remember. _No! His sensei had promised him he wouldn't do anything stupid!

_It hadn't taken the boy long to figure out what the Yondaime Hokage had intended, he was incredibly intelligent. But by the time he'd figured it out, he'd already been so far away from Kyuubi. So far. Too far._

_Being far faster than most ninja, Kakashi used his remaining strength into getting to where Kyuubi was killing those who were fighting so bravely for Konoha. It wasn't too hard to find the damn fox, he was huge. Where was his sensei?! He had to be here! Sensei!_

_No! Hidden Leaf needed his sensei! He was the hokage…he finally made it there. Finally become hokage. Kakashi couldn't let him just end it here. He was the only other ninja left with enough to chakra to seal the fox. They'd kept him back due to his age, despite the fact that he was jounin. He had to keep his sensei from doing this!_

_There! Kakashi saw the shock of bright hair that made the Yondaime Hokage stand out. He put forth the last of his energy into making it there. But even as he grew closer his sensei was making hand signs rapidly, as if he knew his student was there to stop him. Just as Kakashi made it within a few feet of the man a bright flash surrounded him._

"_SENSEI!" Kakashi screamed. He felt his heart and mind shatter as he saw the only adult he had ever respected fall to the ground. _

_The fox made have given a huge cry of pain as it died. The surviving ninja may have slowly begun to come out of their shelters. They may have gasped when they saw their Hokage lying there, dead._

_Kakashi didn't know, nor did he care. Before he even realized he'd moved, he had his sensei in his arms, staring blankly towards the sky. There was a slight smile on his face, as if he'd accomplished what he'd truly intended._

_But Kakashi saw none of this either. Tears were leaking down his face, being absorbed by the mask that covered it._


	2. Chapter 2

Big thanks to the people who reviewed, I'm glad you like it so far. Concerning Orochimaru: I'm considering having him come in later, I'd have to figure out exactly how I want that to happen, but it's a definite possibility. For now, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2

Tsunade was completely shocked as Kakashi collapsed, obviously in pain. His body twitched and shook and fear crept into her heart as she watched the agony across his face. Even with the mask, his face was contorted to the point where it was obvious.

But Tsunade was a ninja and she was Hokage, even if she didn't know what was happening she would not freeze up. It took her only a second to realize that healing him would not work. There was no outer damage to heal and even so… What?!

Kakashi's body had begun to change. His body seemed to shrink and move. Before she even realized what was happening to him, the changes stopped. Tsunade grabbed up the jounin and disappeared, going to the infirmary. This just wasn't possible. Something had to have happened, but nothing could have. No jutsu could change a person's age!

But in her arms was a much younger Kakashi. About thirteen if she recalled correctly. But that still couldn't be possible! Arriving in the infirmary she called as many of the healers to her as she could. There had been few injuries lately, so there were several doctors who weren't doing much.

Tsunade led them into a room and began to search through Kakashi's body for any signs of chakra.

((about two hours later))

"What is it Tsunade-sama?" Asuma asked. It was the question they all wanted to know. All the jounin, that is. They'd been called urgently by the hokage to the hospital, but none of them understood why.

"It's Kakashi," she answered.

"What's he gotten himself into now?" Genma asked.

"My rival could not have injured himself so fully that he would need to be here!" Gai exclaimed.

Tsunade sighed. "I don't really know what's happened. As far as I can tell, his body has been reverted back to what it was more than ten years ago. His body is that of a young teenager," Tsunade told them before going on to explain what had happened when Kakashi had come to her. "There are no signs of chakra other than his own in his body…"

"But…how is that possible?" Kurenai asked.

"My rival…as a child?" Gai whispered.

"I don't know how it's possible," Tsunade snapped. "There's more…as far as I can tell, I don't believe he'll remember anything past the age he'd been changed to. There seems to be an incredible amount of stress in his brain's activity. I think that his brain may have been what changed to a younger time and his body simply moved along to cope with it by changing back as well."

They were all silent for a while.

"So what does this mean?" Asuma asked.

Just then one of the other doctors came out and told them that Kakashi was beginning to wake up.

"If it's true Kakashi can't remember anything, then I will have to tell him about it. And if I know Kakashi at this age, which I do, since I was there, he'll run off. I want you to find him when he does. But please…don't hurt him too bad." With that, she left the room to the young jounin.

"Imagine…" Genma whispered, "Kakashi, great copy-nin Kakashi, as a teenager. What do you think he's like?"

"Good question," Kurenai said. "Also, why did she tell us not to hurt him too bad?"

"My rival was quite strong as a child," Gai told them, "I believe, if I remember correctly, that he will still be a member of our ranks, even at this age."

((half an hour later, Tsunade))

Tsunade was, for one of the few times, upset about being right. Kakashi had woken up confused and disoriented. The Fifth Hokage had explained to the unusually withdrawn Kakashi what had happened to him. But his reaction was not what had worried her.

No. He had taken it incredibly calmly. It was as if he didn't care at all, but not in the usual 'I am Kakashi and I don't care' way. He had seemed truly defeated, as if this was only another problem to add to his list. It hadn't taken her long to find out why. And that was what distressed her the most.

This Kakashi's last memories from his time…were only about two weeks after Kyuubi had been sealed. A week after Yondaime had died. This was worrying, because Tsunade remembered quite clearly the state Kakashi had been in when his sensei died. It had taken her and Jiraiya nearly a month to get him to talk to other people. It'd been nearly a year before the young Kakashi had stopped spending more than half of his day at the monument. She did not want to go through that again, especially with this new strain on the boy's mind.

((Kakashi))

The young jounin sped through the halls as fast as he could, though to him it wasn't fast enough. How could this have happened?! He was in the future! Why?! Well, that wasn't entirely accurate, but he didn't care! He needed something, but all there was, was an empty hole in his heart where everyone he had loved used to be. He needed them! He needed the hope that they still existed to anchor him down…but that couldn't happen, they were gone.

Kakashi collapsed in front of the memorial and slammed his fists into the ground in front of it. Obito was dead. Rin had died shortly after. And now his sensei was dead. Why did they all have to die?! Why them?! They were the strongest ninjas in the village and only he and their sensei had lived to see Kyuubi. And now he was all that was left.

He didn't know what had happened for the past more than ten years! Tsunade was here and he knew her, but she was so much older than he remembered. And! She was Hokage now!

Kakashi collapsed in a heap at the base of the monument. This situation felt hopeless. Kakashi pulled his head protector down so that it covered both of his eyes.

As if to mimic his mood it began to rain.


	3. Chapter 3

Hello! New chapter! Yay! I hope you enjoy this chapter...and, of course, the many more to come. I'm glad people are reviewing, I was worried this wouldn't be as good as it seemed in my head.

If the characters seem just a tiny bit ooc, attribute it to shock, I promiss they'll be better in the future.

Chapter 3

Kakashi lay there for what felt like more than an hour.

His body was the same as he'd always remembered, but people looked at him as if he were some kind of creature they didn't know. They only saw a younger version of him…and he knew none of them. It was as if he were in another village simply designed to look like his own!

There were a few footsteps behind him. Kakashi leapt to his feat and spun around, pulling out a kunai and pushing the head band all the way up, revealing both eyes. There were several adult ninja standing there, looking at him curiously. From looking at them, Kakashi could tell they were jounin.

"What?" he asked calmly. It would be apparent to anyone with half a brain that he was not nearly so calm as he acted, but he could still pretend he was calm.

"Are you okay?" one of them asked.

"Fine," he lied.

"Even kid Kakashi lies, I'm telling you, he can't not lie," one of the adults said. That same adult walked forward, along with the others right behind him.

"What's it to you?" Kakashi asked coldly. He did not want to think about this! He wanted to…well, honestly he wanted to sit alone and blame himself. But Tsunade of his time had told him that he might do good to find distractions…

"Well…you could say we were the closest things you had to friends," one of the others said. "My names Asuma."

"Genma." It was that first one.

"Kurenai."

"I don't even recognize any of you," Kakashi said, voice still cold. There were likely to be very few people he knew. They were all dead.

"I know who he'll recognize!" a loud voice cried from behind them. "My Eternal Rival has been such since before we were ten!"

The voice could be heard even over the rain which was getting increasingly bad. They were all soaked through, but they didn't seem to care. As if…this was more important…than anything…else…

There was something familiar about that voice. But there had only been one person who'd ever called him eternal rival…

"Gai…" Kakashi's groan could not have contained more suffering.

"Wow, that's one thing he got more tolerant of then," the one called Genma muttered to the others. "Usually he just kind of roles his eyes."

"Out of everyone I knew, you're the one who's still alive!" Kakashi gasped in horror as the man came forward. He looked exactly as he used to only older.

"Hah, see I knew my eternal rival would remember me!" Gai said proudly.

"Like hell, I remember you! You're the little brat who was challenging me since the day I joined the academy, even though you didn't join it till years later! You're still bothering me!"

Even Gai looked a little downtrodden at this. The others seemed rather annoyed.

"Don't you know about respecting your elders kid?" Kurenai asked.

"Or at least those of higher rank?" Genma muttered. "Suppose this must be why Tsunade told us not to hurt him too bad, cause I'm about to teach him a lesson."

"Higher rank?" Kakashi glared at them. "I am a jounin. None of can be higher rank, only equal!"

"You're thirteen!" Asuma exclaimed.

"Yeah, so? In my time I was the youngest jounin to have made it in. Who knows about right now, I hope the expectations have improved a little."

"Little Kakashi's pretty arrogant huh?" Genma muttered.

"I'm thinking maybe one of us should take him down a notch or two, as a friendly jounin welcome. Since it's as is he is just joining us, that makes him the newest," Asuma said.

"I will challenge my rival and show him how I have improved. His self of our time may beat me, but this version won't!" Gai declared, good mood obviously back.

"Alright," Kakashi said calmly. Gai may be older but he could still beat him.

"I don't think this is what Hokage-sama meant when she said to go after him," Kurenai stated, before she backed up with the others.

"Sure she did. She knew we'd want to, that's why she said don't hurt him too bad," Asuma said.

Kakashi jumped down from in front of the monument and faced off against his 'greatest rival.'

It was pouring out by now.

There was a part of Kakashi's mind that commented on how dramatic this was with all the lightning and rain. It was a very quiet part though. A part that had almost died with Obito's death and one that the jounin hadn't heard at all since Rin had died.

Focusing his attention on Gai, Kakashi wondered just what this would take, after all, he had no idea what was really going on with those in Konoha right now. Deciding on the direct approach, the white-haired jounin pulled out several shuriken and flung them at his opponent before quickly running from the spot he was in.

He focused on what the sharingan was seeing but with little use, he could hardly see anything by now. Kakashi ducked just in time as a punch flew over his head. Stupid, he berated himself. He could not let his guard drop, he was fighting a jounin. Pushing some of his chakra into his feet, Kakashi pushed himself away before Gai could continue the attack.

This continued for a short while of Gai throwing a few punches and Kakashi using extra chakra to get away. He couldn't for the life of him, figure out how the man could see in this weather and he was getting angry at himself for his own weakness. This was not the weakness of fighting an opponent that was too strong, it was…

"Shit!" Kakashi belatedly realized his own stupidity. Gai took advantage of his momentary distraction and attacked full out. Kakashi grunted as pain lanced through his body. It hurt far more than he'd expected it would.

Finally Kakashi was knocked very far away. He used this opportunity to get to his feet and run, giving himself time to think. He'd left the sharingan open too long. Especially when he wasn't using it! All the fights he'd been in since he got it had ended quickly, so it hadn't been a problem, but now!

He had to get the forehead protector down, but he couldn't when he knew Gai was nearby! The young jounin yelped as a kick barely missed him. Now! Kakashi reached up to pull the thing down.

But Gai came back far faster than he expected and Kakashi had dropped his guard.


	4. Chapter 4

I'm glad you all like it! I was very surprised that I got so many reviews, but I'm not complaining. I hope you continue to enjoy it and this and future chapters. Heh, well, here it is.

Chapter 4

The match didn't last as long as any of them had expected. But the result could not be changed. Kakashi had lost, much to his shock, though to no one else's.

Now, he was lying face down in the mud. He barely managed to lift himself to his hands and knees so he could breath. Gai was stronger now. Much stronger. Maybe his future self was strong enough to beat Gai, but right now Kakashi was over ten years behind him and it showed. It showed in ways the young jounin didn't even want to imagine.

It had been his own stupidity that had made him lose so quickly. How could he have forgotten that the sharingan was open and draining him, since he still wasn't completely used to having it? But what irked him even more was that he knew even without the sharingan draining his power, he would have lost just as badly. Gai was far faster, far more powerful, and had somehow been able to find him, when Kakashi himself could hardly see! It was the difference between a new jounin and one he had been one for many years and despite what Kakashi would like to believe about himself, he was still a new jounin.

Water dripped from his hair as the rain continued to fall. His hands were in fists in the mud, but he doubted he could have gotten up any farther even if he'd wanted to.

Even in the heavy rain, Kakashi heard their footsteps as they got closer. They were surrounding him now. It reminded him of before he'd been a full-fledged Shinobi. Back when his class mates would try and beat him because he was better than them. Of course then, he really could beat them, these ninja were stronger than he was.

But much to Kakashi's surprise a hand was reached out to help him up. He glanced up to see Gai holding out his hand, the others standing slightly farther back, but still around him. Kakashi looked up into that smiling face and could not help the confusion that threatened to overwhelm him.

Gai was being nice to him even after what he'd said. The only people who had ever liked him were dead, how had he managed to make friends in the future? Why did these jounin even care? Kakashi wanted to be angry, he wanted to take out his frustration and be upset about sensei being gone. But he could hardly get up the energy to move…maybe he had needed this, not that he'd ever admit that to anyone…

The white haired boy reached his hand up weakly and allowed himself to be dragged up. But the second Gai let go, Kakashi stood for only a few seconds before the pain in his body prevented him from standing any longer, he collapsed to his knees again.

"I think you may have over done it a bit," Asuma said, picking up Kakashi, much to the boy's angry protests. "Look, midget, I'll carry you until we get to the village, then I'll let you walk."

"I am not a midget!" Kakashi growled.

"You are too!" Genma said.

It irked Kakashi that he needed to be carried at all. It bothered him that he'd lost and that they'd all seen it. He felt Asuma's strong arms beneath him and swore at the man for being a jounin. There was no way Kakashi would be able to struggle free, especially since he could hardly stand.

When they were close to the village, Asuma put down the white haired teen. Kakashi wobbled a bit, but managed to not fall over. ARG! Everything hurt! He hadn't been beaten up this bad since the first time he and Obito had gotten into a fight, before they'd come to understand each other.

Thinking of Obito brought back the old waves of pain. He struggled not to let it consume him. The feeling of a hand on his shoulder gave Kakashi the extra help he needed to keep himself calm and he followed his fellow jounin into the village.

They made their way to Hokage Tower and Kakashi knew he must have looked as bad as he felt. It was still pouring out, so even the other jounin were soaked through, but he was the only one completely covered in mud. His hair, he knew, must be an absolute mess, and his clothes were torn in quite a few places. He looked, in short, like he'd just had the crap beaten out of him.

There were more people in the building than usual, due to the rain and many of them stared at the group as they made their way inside. After knocking, they entered the Fifth's office to find her alone.

"I thought I told you not to hurt him too bad," she said before sighing.

"I'm not hurt," Kakashi growled, though he knew that must have sounded ridicules.

"Now, there is another matter we must attend to," Tsunade said curtly. "I do not believe it wise to let you wonder on your own right now, due to your situation, so I believe it best if you were to work with a group. As there is no one to actually place you with I ask you to spend your time with one of the genin groups. I know you'd rather not, but I cannot have you alone right now, not until we find a way to get your memory back and your body with it. I will let you roam with any of the teams, switching back and forth if you like, as long as you're always with one."

Kakashi nodded. He wanted to argue. But ninja didn't argue when given orders. After how he'd been letting his emotions get in the way he would at least do this right. But how could he stand being with genin at his rank? All they ever did was go on easy missions and since they probably knew who he was, he'd look like an idiot.

"Who are the team leaders?" he asked tersely.

"We are," came the answer from behind him.Asuma smirked evilly. "That means you have to be with one of us all the time."

"What will happen to his team?" Kurenai asked.

"I have to be with you," Kakashi said flatly to the jounin, dismay in his voice.

"I believe Sakura and Naruto are at a point where they can train on their own," Tsunade answered, ignoring the others.

"Don't worry midget, we won't let them beat you up too badly," Genma told Kakashi with a laugh.

His only reply was a dark glare.

"Well, you're dismissed. I want one of you to seek out Kakashi in the morning as it will probably be difficult for him to find one of you," Tsunade told them.

"Umm…" they turned to look at Kakashi, "Where do I live :)"


	5. Chapter 5

Hiya! Once again, a huge thanks to all my reviewers, I'm very glad you enjoy it so much! ...Nothing else to say really...oh! Naruto and Sakura won't be in it at first, but I promise that they will come in. For now you'll have to live with the other random people I decide get to see Kakashi. So, here we go.

Chapter 5

Loss. Grief. Emotional pain. Physical pain. Lonely.

Kakashi shot straight up in bed, completely disoriented. Where the hell was he? This wasn't his home. But…but…there was something about it…

The memories of the previous day came flooding back to Kakashi and he curled up in the bed. It was still pitch black in the apartment, which meant he hadn't really been asleep that long. Stupid dream. It had been the one about Sensei again.

With a sad sigh, Kakashi rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. It took him a while to fall asleep, but once he did, his sleep was restful and un-plagued by the nightmares he had experienced at first.

When Kakashi was woken up the second time he may have considered it worse than the first. He awoke to loud knocking on his door. Still being incredibly tired from so little sleep, he rolled over and hoped it would go away. After a few minutes he heard the door open and someone stepped in.

Finally Kakashi decided that maybe it would be a good thing to at least see who it was before telling them to get lost. He lifted his head to find a very close, very smiley, and very far-to-awake Gai. With a yelp of surprise, Kakashi jumped back and slammed into the wall. He was suddenly very glad that he'd been too tired and in pain to remove his clothes last night.

"My rival, you must hurry, my team is waiting and we don't have all day!" even as Gai rushed him, he made it sound so cheerful. "And besides it's a wonderful day!"

"Wonderful day?" Kakashi snapped, "It's still dark out!" He got to his feat.

"I can tell! Now hurry and get ready!" Gai left the room and waited outside. After about a minute he heard a loud curse from inside. About five minutes later Kakashi came out of the room, clothes obviously far too big for him. The difference made him look even shorter than he already did.

"I suppose you think this is funny?" he growled at the grinning Gai.

"You could always borrow some of-"

"No! Thank you. I'll get smaller clothes when we're done for the day," Kakashi told him, before heading out into the rest of the house. "Crap," Kakashi said flatly. He had no idea where anything was and he really would like to eat since he hadn't since he had woken up and been told he was in the future.

"Come on my rival, we must be off!" Gai dragged Kakashi outside before the younger jounin even had a chance to say anything. He continued to drag him outside, before stopping. "Follow me, my students are already training, I told them to get started while I got you," with that Gai took off and Kakashi jumped after him.

He had no problem keeping up, but he did wonder what kind of students Gai had. Hopefully Gai's students weren't exactly like him, that would drive Kakashi insane. Though he had gained a respect for the (now) older man, he still thought he was far too excited this early in the morning. It was still pretty dark out, the light of dawn only barely beginning to show. Everything was wet from the day before, but it seemed like it would probably be pretty sunny that day.

They had only been running for a few minutes when they made it to the forest and finally came to a clearing with training equipment off to the side. There were three students there training. They turned in the direction of the two jounin when they finally stopped running.

"Hey, Kakashi, maybe you can train with them," Gai laughed.

"Gai," Kakashi growled and turned to look at the man with a glare.

"Wow, so that's what Kakashi-sensei looked like," one of them said thoughtfully.

Kakashi spun back around, but stopped dead in his tracks when he realized that one of the students looked exactly like Gai, only shorter. "Whoa, mini-Gai…that's kinda creepy…" He tilted his head to the side and smiled at them, lone visible eye curving.

"These are my students," Gai said proudly. "This is Lee, Neji, and Tenten!"

"There's something wrong with you," Kakashi said to him, "you know that right?"

"There's nothing wrong with Gai-sensei!" Lee told him.

Ignoring him, Kakashi turned towards Neji. The hell! Well, he supposed it wasn't too hard to guess that one's family. "Hyuuga, I'm guessing," it wasn't a question.

Neji nodded. He seemed rather curious about Kakashi. "Copy-nin Kakashi as a child, eh?"

"They call me copy-nin?" Kakashi didn't think he liked the name. It wasn't as if he was even born with the sharingan, he wasn't Uchiha.

"They do," Gai said with a bit of annoyance in his voice. "That was another reason you were such a perfect rival for me!"

"It seems kind of strange now, that people call you a genius," Tenten said to Neji.

"Yes, it does," he replied.

"So how good of a fighter are you now?" Lee asked Kakashi excitedly.

"Maybe you should spar with him!" Gai laughed. He completely ignored the look Kakashi gave him. "Go on! I want all three of you on him at once, you can handle that can't you Kakashi!"

"Of course," Kakashi murmured. Well, since it was three against one he might be offered a bit of a challenge.

Kakashi, Tenten, Neji, and Lee headed to the middle of the clearing while Gai stood to the side with a smirk on his face. There was something about that look that made the white-haired ninja wary, Gai looked extraordinarily pleased that they were about to spar, so he had to wonder how good these kids were. They looked to be almost exactly his age, but he figured they were all Genin.

Mentally Kakashi reminded himself to avoid Neji's attacks at all costs. If he got hit by those attacks even he might have stand a very large chance of losing.

"START!" Gai called.


	6. Chapter 6

Yay! Another new chapter! Well, thanks again to those who reviewed.

Chapter 6

"START!" Gai called.

Very subtly Kakashi changed his stance. He eyed Neji closely as the boy's eyes changed. He knew it! Definitely something he would need to watch. If Neji used the powers that Kakashi knew Hyuuga members possessed, then he wouldn't be able to access his chakra and, of course, any damage that might be done inside of him. It was too bad he wouldn't be able to thank that Hyuuga girl he'd seen in his jounin exams, she had certainly taught him a lot about these powers.

Lee came charging in first and Kakashi was rather surprised at his speed. Not that it was something he couldn't match, but still. Ducking down low, the jounin kicked out at his opponent's legs, his attack was dodged, as he'd expected. Leaping after his opponent he went into a flurry of taijutsu attacks and forced the boy to back up and block, without a chance of offense.

Several kunai came flying out of nowhere and he dodged them only to realize that Lee was now far away. The weapons continued to fly and he had to work to dodge them all. Finally getting bored, Kakashi whipped out several shuriken and flung them in that direction. Before he could see what happened though, he was forced to move as both Lee and Neji attacked him at once. Crap!

If he let Neji hit him there'd be a problem, but he couldn't just keep dodging. He'd be damned if he let a bunch of Genin corner him! But before Kakashi had a chance to truly fight back he became trapped in a situation he was not fond of. The young jounin dodged one of Neji's attacks only to realize he'd miscalculated. Lee's fist slammed into Kakashi's stomach before a roundhouse kick to the side of his head sent him flying backwards.

Kakashi yelped as he slammed into the ground and began to skid. As his body bounced off the ground he managed to get to his feet, barely. He was panting and very surprised. That had hurt. A lot! How could that kid hit so hard? He growled in anger and a quick glance at Gai showed him this was what the other jounin had been waiting for. Gai smirked at him when he saw that Kakashi was looking at him suspiciously.

Getting more annoyed, Kakashi reached up to his forehead and shoved the hitai-ate up so that it left the sharingan exposed. It wouldn't do for him to forget it like the previous night, but Kakashi wanted to end this match quickly. There was no way he would allow himself to lose to a bunch of genin!

"Watch him now, team!" Gai called cheerfully to them. Kakashi shot him another glare, which he completely ignored.

Shoving off the ground, Kakashi launched himself at the two boys. He didn't get very far when a swarm of kunai and other various sharp objects came flying at him. Flipping through the air, he dodged them all easily, but knew the dangers of keeping this up. If he let the kunai distract him, he'd never have time to get to the other two. Spinning on one foot, Kakashi tried to find the direction the knives were coming from. Finding it, he sprinted in that direction.

When Lee attacked him out of seemingly nowhere, Kakashi saw it in time to duck. He allowed Lee to go flying past before attacking Tenten full force with taijutsu. After a strong hit had her on the ground he turned back only to have Lee slam into him full force. Crap.

Kakashi blocked as many of the attacks as he could, but felt himself being pushed back. "Damnit!" Kakashi spun just in time to see Neji's hand flying at him. He ducked beneath it, but that was all the opening Lee needed to kick him square in between the shoulder blades.

There was a scream of pain from the jounin as the blow hit, but after that he was lost in a cloud of dust as he went careening through the clearing. He finally skidded to a stop at a different edge of the woods. Dust settled around him and Kakashi gasped for breath as he pushed himself off the ground.

The look on his face absolutely murderous.

"Alright, that's enough for now, I think!" Gai called to them. The other three walked over to their sensei first. "Good job guys!"

Stalking over, Kakashi gave them a look that promised a slow and painful death. "I don't need to stop," he growled angrily. Reaching his hand up he pulled the hitai-ate down to cover his sharingan again.

"You don't know when to quit, do you?" Neji asked him with a smirk.

"That was great!" Lee said with excitement.

"So, can any of you explain what happened out there?" Gai asked in a 'teacher' kind of voice.

"Our teamwork," Tenten said. "Neji and Lee fought him head on and that was harder for him to keep up with and I distracted him in the middle, when they began to have trouble."

Kakashi looked away angrily. That had been stupid of him. He knew teamwork worked far better than any one ninja on their own. It was something that had been drilled into him dozens of times and he should have seen what they were doing sooner instead of taking everything as it came.

"That was good though, Kakashi. I told you my students would be a good challenge!" Gai said to him.

"Yeah!" Kakashi glared viciously. He was trying hard to keep from getting too angry. Ninja weren't supposed to show emotion. They weren't supposed to let things distract them and anger certainly would distract him. He could not let himself act on this.

"Now, I also want you three to notice how Kakashi fought you. It is important when fighting more than one ninja at once, to notice individual strengths at once. For instance, I notice you particularly avoided being touched by Neji," Gai stated.

"Hmpf, it wasn't that hard to figure out. Anyone who's seen someone from the Hyuuga clan fight, wouldn't be stupid enough to let themselves get hit by it," Kakashi said flatly, his usual calm returning.

Gai went into a bit more explaining the details of their fight and how it was important to know how to deal with ninja who are much stronger on and individual level.

"Make no mistake though, if he'd been fighting you on your own, any one of you would have lost easily!"

"Can we try it then?" Lee asked excitedly.

"Sure, why not!"

Kakashi slammed his hand into his forehead. Well, at least he knew could do this…


	7. Chapter 7

Hello everyone. Here's the new chapter and I have absolutely nothing of importanct to say. Just that Team 7 will play a roll in this, but they won't be appearing until around chapter 12. So anyways, here you go!

Chapter 7

Fighting each of Gai's students individually turned out to be easy for Kakashi. Being able to focus on one opponent made it much simpler for him to over-power them, especially since he was faster than all of them as well.

He also saw something else he'd done wrong when fighting all of them at once. As important as it had been for him not to get hit by Neji, he'd been focusing too much attention on dodging and blocking than on fighting back and preventing himself from being attacked at all.

Mostly he was surprised by Lee, though. That kid was far stronger than he'd originally thought and it had actually been pretty fun to fight him.

When it began getting dark out, Gai brought them in and said that they could eat together before leaving off for the day. They went to Ichiraku's and sat down. It was only then that Kakashi realized how truly hungry he was since he hadn't eaten at all that day.

Upon the food's arrival, Kakashi dug in even faster than Lee and didn't stop until he'd completely finished off his food. Due to rate he'd been eating and because his bowl had constantly been in front of his face, the others couldn't even see his face. He pulled his mask back up before lowering the bowl that had been full of noodles less than a minute previously.

"You sure can eat!" Gai exclaimed.

"It's your fault I didn't get to eat before coming," Kakashi told him.

"Kakashi, you should train with us tomarrow too!" Lee announced. "It will be great!"

"Yeah, that was fun," Tenten admitted. Even Neji nodded.

"Do I have to get up that early again?" he asked warily.

"We're always up that early," Neji said.

"It's so invigorating to be up before the crack of dawn! Especially when you can hear the birds chirping," Lee told him.

Kakashi grumbled and sat back in his seat.

"Lighten up, Kakashi!" Gai told him, patting him on the back with considerable force.

_Lighten up!_ That was something sensei had always told him. Sensei. Even if he trained. Even if he got his memory back. It wouldn't bring his sensei back. Kakashi stood up abruptly.

"Are you okay?" Tenten asked. They were all looking at him worriedly.

"Just…just…that…sensei used to say that to me…I…I…forgot to…" Kakashi ran away from the group. He never went to the monument that day! He'd forgotten!

Kakashi was much slower after the day of training and he wasn't even there yet when the group caught up to him, sprinting through the forest. He ignored them and kept going, practically running into the monument when he came upon it.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, hands clenched into fists on the ground. It was something he said every time he came and he had gone every day since Obito died. Had hardly left once sensei died. "It was my fault."

Tears came into his eyes and he couldn't prevent them. Even as he tried to push the emotions away they forced themselves into his head. He recalled the nightmare he had woken up to in the middle of the night and fought to keep the tears from falling, though he knew he couldn't prevent it.

Kakashi felt a hand on his shoulder, but didn't look up. "Why do you feel the need to come here every day?" Gai asked gently.

The young jounin shook his head back and forth, the days fighting leaving him more tired than usual. "It was my fault," he finally whispered.

"It wasn't your fault-"

"What do you know!" Kakashi shouted angrily. "It's my fault Obito died, I'm the one who got in a fight with him and distracted our whole group when those stone ninja came! I should have seen that Rin was growing too tired from the healing, should have stopped her from killing herself in saving others! I could have…I could have stopped sensei before he went and gave up his life!" Kakashi's rant only got louder a he continued. When he finished his entire body shook as the tears finally leaked free.

"Stop being stupid!" came a cry from behind them. "Ninja die in battle, we all know that, it's how you live your life before that that matters! And our loved ones wouldn't want us to be sad when they were gone! By refusing to live!" It was Lee who was screaming at him and Kakashi once again wondered how deep this boy truly was.

But Kakashi didn't want people yelling at him. He didn't want people to be around him. He didn't want to feel like this! He was tired of the empty ache in his heart! And he didn't want to lose anyone else!

"Do you really think Yondaime would want you to be like this after his death?" Gai asked him calmly, helping Kakashi to his feet.

"He'd have told me it's alright to cry and that it helps," Kakashi whispered. "That's what he said when Rin died. She shouldn't have died, she was saving so many people, and that last one…he still died…" Kakashi continued to shake, but allowed himself to be pulled away from the monument. "I'm sorry," he told them after a few minutes.

"You okay now?" Neji asked when they arrived at the village. He had remained quiet throughout all of this and the rest of his team was somewhat surprised he didn't have some smartass quip after all this time.

"Yeah," Kakashi answered. "I'm gonna go home and get as much sleep as I can before I get woken up before dawn again."

The jounin began walking away from them before pausing and turning back around, eye curved, showing a huge smile.

"Where do I live?"


	8. Chapter 8

Okay and here's the new chapter. I'm glad people enjoy how the stories going, I'm really having fun with it. If people do have any constructive criticism though, or if there's something you want to see, I am open for sugestions. :)

Chapter 8

Kakashi's sleep that night was fitful and after waking up from nightmares twice he stopped trying to sleep. Slipping out of his apartment, he hopped up to the top of the large building to stare up at the sky. Everything was clear, allowing the stars to shine through brightly. The rain and wet that had been there when he'd first woken up in this time were gone and it seemed as if it would stay nice out for a while.

But he didn't care about nice weather anymore. About a year ago he would have been so happy that the weather would be nice. He also would have considered this an adventure, this going forward in time, a time to have fun and meet new people, even though he was supposed to already know them.

Almost…he wished his memory had been wiped back to before Obito had been killed. It would have hurt when he found out Obito wasn't here, but the ignorance certainly couldn't hurt as much as knowing he was the only one left. Knowing that the only people he would have ever cared to see in the future were already gone. It hurt. And…it hadn't even been that long.

It was about a year ago that Obito died, and with his death, the rest of his team seven had simply crumbled one by one. …Rin had died due to the war, with so many people needing to be healed, she'd over-exerted herself far past what anyone could normally survive. …And then, of course, his sensei had died against Kyuubi, leaving only him left.

His sensei wouldn't have wanted him to be sad, though. He would have told Kakashi that things would be okay and that it had been his responsibility to save the village from Kyuubi. That it was part of being Hokage. But his sensei wasn't here anymore to tell him that, that was the problem.

The young jounin could not prevent the overwhelming sadness that filled him when he thought about the fact that he'd never be able to see his sensei again. Never hear him say to relax or light up. Not a thing in the world could bring back the ones he loved most and, here he sat, knowing that he would have to live the rest of his life without them. That he would live more than ten years without them being there.

So maybe his future self did gain control of his emotions. Maybe he would be able to move on and live after all this. At the same time, though, he didn't want to. It seemed like moving on would be to say that they hadn't mattered to Kakashi and that he could get over their deaths because it wasn't important.

Kakashi's mind ran in circles about the same thoughts, never coming to any conclusion. It would simply keep coming back to the same two problems and his mind would not allow either answer to be the correct one. Just as the predawn light began to come out, Kakashi heard steps down in front of the apartment building.

Hopping forward silently, he peered over the edge of the roof. Gai was down there and his students were with him this time. Once again, Kakashi wondered how they could get so little sleep everyday. They all seemed so used to it, which made sense since they had probably been doing it for a while. But they trained from before the sun came up to when it went down. It was insane, even Obito hadn't had that much energy!

Pulling out a shuriken, Kakashi flung it straight down. It missed, as he'd planned, but it certainly seemed to surprise the students, who hadn't known he was there. Gai didn't seem that affected, but Kakashi hadn't thought he would be.

"Kakashi!" Gai snapped, looking straight up. The young jounin was already back out of sight however. He crouched down before jumping straight up and onto the roof of the building.

Kakashi, who's been expecting as much, already stood facing him calmly. "There's something wrong with you, you know. The suns not even up and you get your students out of bed," he said it as if it were the craziest thing a person could ever do.

"Why are you already up here then?" Gai asked in one of those rare moments of seriousness. He had a strange, yet understanding, look that made Kakashi uncomfortable.

"I couldn't sleep," the young jounin said offhandedly.

"Oh really? You had nightmares didn't you?"

"What!" Kakashi's widened eye was all the answer that was needed. He turned his head away, not looking at the older jounin.

"You were so sad yesterday and when Tsunade told you about where you were. It's okay to be sad about them Kakashi."

"They've been gone for over ten years, it doesn't matter," Kakashi said bitterly.

"That doesn't change what they are in your own mind. Now come, it's going to be a nice day," Gai began to walk away.

With a sigh, the white-haired ninja followed him. He had a lot to think about. One thing he wondered was why the best advice he'd had in a while came from Gai. But more so was what the man had said. It was okay to feel sad about it even though it had, in actuality, been a long time since they died.

But it wasn't that he cared if it was okay or not. It hurt that they were gone. More than any injury ever could. It hurt and he wasn't so worried that it was bad to feel this sad, he was worried it would consume him if he wasn't careful. This sadness hurt so much already, he couldn't imagine the pain of it completely overwhelming him.

The two ninja hopped off the building to land right in front of the three genin who were waiting for them. Neji had Kakashi's shuriken and was swinging it from side to side.

Kakashi smiled brightly, eye curving, as he held his hand out for it. Neji seemed to consider throwing it at his head, before, simply handing it to him. Instead, he just gave it to him.

"I don't think you all went hard enough on him yesterday!" Gai said cheerfully. Kakashi spun around and looked at him, eye's wide. "He may be a jounin, but we'll have him dead on his feet by the end of the day!" Lee cheered, Neji smirked, and Tenten simply shook her head.

"What!" Kakashi yelped, "Look, since I'm not your student, you really don't have to worry-" But it fell on deaf ears. It crossed his mind that he would have to hurt something after this. Well, at least he'd have a chance to make up for the horrible job he'd been doing the previous day. But what worried him more was the thought that Gai meant it. Kakashi was not as lazy as he'd have people believe, but he certainly didn't like the sound what was intended.

Heh, maybe this would solve his nightmare problem. If Gai could possibly manage to make him that tired, then it was very unlikely he would have nightmares…


	9. Chapter 9

Hello! Heh, the biggest thing people want to see is Team 7, not that I blame you, I can't wait to write that part. It will come though.

Chapter 9

Kakashi was tempted to call Gai a slave driver. He decided that thought would be safer left in his head. After all, he was not an idiot.

It'd hardly been an hour since Kakashi had left with Gai and his students and already he was out of breath. They hadn't started off fighting, they'd started off with exercises. Or, running to be more exact. The older jounin had told his own students to train on their own and then had told Kakashi to follow him.

That was easier said than done. Gai was fast. And not fast like sprinting in battle and sneaking up behind a person. He was fast as in even Kakashi could barely follow his moves with his normal eye. He'd already pushed up his hitai-ate and was using the sharingan to make sure he was going in the right direction. It was as fast as he could physically run and still Gai was pulling farther and farther ahead.

If Kakashi had been able to focus on anything else he'd have swore at himself for not training these past few weeks. Instead of focusing his attention on training himself, he'd been secluding himself since his sensei died. That did not make this easy! Hell, even if he'd at least walked around during that time he'd be able to handle this better. ….Shit.

Where the hell did he go! Swearing viciously in his head, Kakashi swiveled his head to see if he could find the other jounin. No luck. Right now he was in the forest and that made it harder to see anything due to the large amount of trees. Focus. Calm. There!

Leaping off the branch he'd landed on, Kakashi headed in that direction. After following it for a short while, the sharingan managed to focus on it close enough to tell him that it was definitely Gai. The thought that Gai knew he was having trouble keeping up made Kakashi angry. Throwing chakra down into his feet, the white-haired ninja forced himself to go faster.

It was about half an hour later that Gai landed in the clearing where Lee, Tenten, and Neji were training on their own. Kakashi landed down behind him several seconds later, a dark look on his face. By this point his fury was directed entirely at himself for not being faster. He didn't care that even an average chuunin would not have been able to see them during that whole time. All that mattered was that someone was faster than him and he didn't like it.

"Wasn't that great!" Gai exclaimed, looking as if he'd just taken a walk. "It's great to take a nice run in the morning!"

"You're just trying to annoy me now, aren't you?" Kakashi asked flatly, his breathing much quicker than usual due to the running. He pulled the hitai-ate down harshly.

"Come over here!" Gai called to his students, ignoring the panting Kakashi beside him. "I want you three to spar with Kakashi once more."

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee saluted. He seemed pretty happy to get this chance.

Neji smirked. "Are you actually going to fight back this time?"

"Why? You have a death wish?" Kakashi asked him, standing straighter. He reached into his jounin vest and pulled out a scroll.

"You didn't use chakra at all last time," Tenten stated. "What can you do?"

"I'm not entirely sure," he said cheerfully. At their confused looks he answered, "I'm not sure they'll listen to me."

Gai seemed thoughtful for a second before seeming to draw a conclusion. "You're nin-dogs, correct? You had them even at this age!"

"I got them when I graduated," Kakashi muttered. He it down on his thumb as hard as he could. That would not feel too great later, but it was better than taking out a kunai and stabbing himself. After wiping the blood on the scroll and waving it around several times, he slammed it into the ground.

There was a bit of smoke that cleared to reveal a small pug wearing the clothes of a ninja. It looked up at Kakashi in confusion. Swiveling its head from side to side it then seemed to decide that it was not dreaming.

"Pakkun?"

"Kakashi? What the hell happened to you? You look like you did when…" Pakkun looked at him closely.

Kakashi explained as quickly as he could how he had been turned much younger. Pakkun seemed to take it all in stride before barking once.

"Nice dog," Neji commented, looking strangely interested.

"Heh, you think so?" Kakashi smirked evilly. "Cause you're about to meet the others very soon."

"Alright then…GO!" Gai shouted, startling all four of them.

"Pakkun, call the others, you know what to do!" Kakashi dodged under a punch from Lee, who had realized what was happening the fastest.

Backing off, Kakashi was forced to play defensive against Lee as the boy pushed his advantage. How the hell was a genin so good? What the hell was driving him to be this good. Finally seeing an opening, the jounin began to attack back. He knew that the nin-dogs would keep Tenten and Neji busy since he was the one fighting with Lee.

The white-haired ninja's respect for the boy grew. He had not once used chakra, but Lee was proving to be the most difficult of the three to fight and defend against. Shit!

Kakashi felt rather than saw, one of his nin-dogs disappearing. The only way he could figure that had happened was if that Hyuuga kid got close enough to them. If he had the ability to seal off chakra, then simply by touching the dogs, he could probably force them back into the scroll. That was absolutely not good. The reason he'd called upon the dogs was because he doubted he could take on all three of them again, even if he knew how to this time.

If Kakashi's mind hadn't been focused on fighting Lee, he might have called himself an idiot for getting less than an hours worth of sleep the previous night. But, alas, that was not the case. Wait…there! Slamming his fist forward, Kakashi caught Lee at an unguarded moment and landed a powerful blow to the boy's ribcage, sending him sailing through the air.

Just as Kakashi leaned back to launch himself after the genin, he felt a sharp blow to his back that sent pain cascading through his body and left him staggering. Idiot!

Forcing himself to move, Kakashi leapt out of the way just as Neji's fist came flying down and just missed him. Oh crap had that hurt! Spinning, the young jounin faced the boy who'd landed the blow on him. Neji was smirking evilly.

"Care to take a guess on whether that was a chakra point or just me shattering your insides?" Neji asked him innocently, though the look on his face was anything but.

Anger flooded Kakashi and it was only through great control that he forced it back. Rage was focused mostly on himself for getting distracted, but the only one he could focus that anger on was Neji. Visible eye narrowing, it was not capable of showing how much he didn't like this.

With a shout, Kakashi launched himself at the other boy. All that could be seen was a streak of white.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Kakashi launched himself across the field. All that was visible was a small streak of white from his hair. He would show that Hyuuga kid who he was! He thought he had Kakashi there, but this jounin would never back down, certainly not from a wanna be like him!

Chakra point or internal damage, it didn't matter! Neji hadn't had enough time to completely incapacitate him and Kakashi was not planning on using chakra. Even if there was damage on the inside, he would be fine long enough to beat the crap out of the brat!

Focused entirely in front of him, the white-haired ninja didn't notice Gai whispering something to Lee. Nor did he see the youth nod seriously.

As the shorter teen slammed into him, all Neji managed to block was the first blow. Kakashi began raining punches down on him, leaving every sense alert to approaching danger. There was no way he'd make the same mistake again. It was time to stop fooling around and show them that he really was a jounin and not some kid just like them.

People always thought little of him because he was a kid, he was tired of it! Everyone from his own time treated him like a little kid who was lucky enough to be strong or a jerk who didn't deserve his rank. Now he was here and people continued to underestimate him, though they didn't get angry at him. But that being the case it was even worse!

Finally he kicked Neji in a way that sent the youth flying backwards. Kakashi spun around just in time as Lee came to attack him again. Tenten was right behind him, she probably didn't want to risk hitting her teammate with her own weapons. It didn't take him long to knock her back and narrow the fight down to just he and Lee.

This, while more difficult than fighting Neji, was not impossible for Kakashi, Lee just blocked more. As the other fighter began attacking back, Kakashi watched him closely, he would show this little punk who was stronger too. Though, he did respect Lee, maybe it wasn't right for him to take his frustrations out on…!

Just as Kakashi swung at Lee again, the boy dived to the side. The jounin saw only a small flash of movement before pain exploded in his head, spreading to his entire body. He shot straight into the air aware only of the rushing feeling of wind as he sailed up. Suddenly he felt something wrap around his arms and saw that it was Lee behind him. Oh, damn. Was all the thought Kakashi managed before his body, tied with Lee's, went shooting straight towards the ground.

Kakashi thought a cry of pain may have burst from him as he crashed into the ground, but he wasn't entirely too sure. Everything hurt. He was aware of nothing but his own body which had pain shooting through it continuously. He doubted he had ever felt anything that had hurt quite so much as that, though that could have been the current pain talking. After all, one's injuries always seem worse while you have them.

After a minute, Kakashi brought himself to open his eyes. Well, he certainly wasn't going to lay here like some sort of incapable little…never mind. He was unable to hold back a groan of pain as he forced himself to get up. Okay, first step: get on knees…check. Second step: stand…almost…check.

Panting with pain and effort, Kakashi looked around. Tenten was helping Lee to his feat and Gai was walking over to him. The younger jounin nearly tripped when he tried to take a step. Owe! Not a good idea.

"What…the hell…have you…been teaching him?" Kakashi asked between breaths.

"How did it feel?" Gai asked with a laugh.

"Like the Hokage Tower fell on me, while I stood still, and did nothing to stop it."

"Yes, I'm sure it does. Lee would not have used the move unless I told him," Gai informed him. "It is self-damaging and he is still recovering from something that happened a while ago."

"That's nice to know. I feel so special now," Kakashi said sarcastically. No wonder Gai didn't let his student use that move often, it could probably kill some people.

"You over did it with Neji," Gai told him seriously.

Kakashi looked away. He truly could not bring himself to care right now.

"You are a jounin, Kakashi. I believe in your own desire to prove that, you are also proving how young you really are." Kakashi's head snapped up, eyes angered. "As a jounin, part of fighting those weaker than you is knowing when to stop, especially when training." Gai's voice had taken on a sharp edge by now.

Anger coursed through Kakashi once more. He knew fighting right now was a bad option, everything hurt and it would be a stupid thing to fight about anyways. Instead of attacking, he chose, instead, to look away.

"Kakashi!" Gai snapped. "I won't make this an issue if you promise to be more calm in the future." When the younger jounin didn't answer, Gai snapped his name again.

"Fine," Kakashi grumbled. "I'll be more calm in the future and I won't lose myself sparing again. Happy?"

"Yes. Come," Gai motioned him to follow as Gai walked back over to where Tenten and Lee were sitting. Lee looked quite worn out, but fine other than that. Neji, whom Kakashi hadn't noticed until now, was lying to the side, breathing slowly. He was not bleeding, nor did anything look broken, but Kakashi could tell by looking at him that he Gai had been right.

Did he really do that? How could he have? He'd gotten too angry, damnit! Kakashi told himself he would not let his emotions overwhelm him and here he'd gone and done this. That was what he would work on, he had to. He would absolutely not let anything make him lose his head again!


	11. Chapter 11

Hello! Um, I hadn't really planned much for the future of this fic when I started it, bo this will be pretty weird. I couldn't decide if I wanted it to be before or after Sasuke left (hence the vagueness, since pretty much everything happens before Naruto leaves with Jiraiya). So I've decided that Sasuka hasn't left yet. He wasn't in the opening chapter for reasons I will have to think of. No! I am not making up stuff randomly! I just didn't think about it before. If anyone is really annoyed about this, then I apologize, though I doubt anyone will be.

And what most of you have been waiting for is coming up in the next chapter (I'm being vague again).

Chapter 11

Gai had let them go early that day. Apparently Lee really needed to rest after doing that move. Something about having hurt himself badly or something and it not being a good thing to over-exert himself. Neji, of course, had still been unconscious.

Kakashi decided to finally get some clothes that fit him, since he hadn't gotten a chance to yet. This didn't really take all that long since Tsunade had apparently already warned them they'd need a vest for someone his size. All he had to do was say who he was and they found a vest that would fit him. The jounin was tempted to believe it might even be his from when he truly was this age.

But all in all, that didn't leave him with much to do. He really wanted to avoid people as much as possible. It would not make him happy to find anymore people who knew him as an adult, that would just be embarrassing and annoying. So, that left him in his apartment. Well, it would give him the chance to see some of what kind of person he became like.

It didn't take Kakashi and his amazing jounin deductive skills to find out that there were not many personal things in his apartment. Everything seemed so…common and clean, yet it had a strange feeling of being lived in that didn't make a whole lot of sense. Like most houses this clean felt untouched and un-lived in, but his didn't. …Weird.

However, Kakashi did not know the true 'greatness' of his house and his future self until he found a small bookshelf in the corner of the living room. His ability to hide his feelings only seemed to help him when he wasn't very sad or very excited and right now he was the former of the two.

Eyes (or eye rather) widened to the size of dinner plates, the white-haired teen pulled a book off of the shelf. It was an _Icha Icha Paradise _book. It was also the fifth in the series. Jiraiya-sama had begun writing them while he was a bit younger than nine, but he had discovered them only a year ago. Kakashi had managed to sneak one that Jiraiya had apparently given his sensei. His sensei, of course, had refused to read them, but had forgotten to get rid of one.

And…and…and…His future self had up to volume eighteen! There was a huge grin on the jounin's face as he grabbed two of the books and went out onto the roof. Well, he had absolutely no intention of going to sleep and risking nightmares so this was the perfect way to help keep himself awake. And while he was still rather sore from Lee's Lotus attack, he could manage to ignore it for this.

((next morning, dawn))

Kakashi glanced at the sky out his window. He'd gone inside to use a lamp once it had been too dark to read outside. Now the sun was coming up. Gai had told him the previous day that today Kakashi would have to come on his own and they would not search for him.

That was awfully convenient to the short jounin who still had ten years of reading to catch up on before he was satisfied. And he would be able to stop at the monument on the way there. Slipping the book he was currently on (volume six), he headed outside. It didn't take too long to reach the monument.

Kneading before the large stone, he whispered quietly the words he so desperately hoped his fallen comrades could hear. His mood was not as sad as it had been before. Seeing them in the morning made it feel as if there was still something to look forward to, instead of a night of nightmares.

Half and hour later he began walking towards Gai's team's training area. His book was in hand and he read it as he walked. When he finally came into the clearing he guessed he was about an hour late….not that he cared.

"I told you it was a bad idea to let him walk on his own." Kakashi didn't need to lift his head from the book to know that was Neji. Neji was better than he'd been the previous day, but Kakashi could tell from his voice that he was not completely healed.

"We were worried you got lost!" Lee screamed to him, running over.

"What are you reading?" Tenten asked, pulling the book away from him.

Kakashi let her and smirked as he waited for the inevitable reaction.

"…Augh!" she exclaimed and shoved it back at him. "And you say there's something wrong with us! You pervert!"

"Apparently the me of this time has collected up to volume eighteen," he said smugly. "I only read up to four."

"Kakashi, my rival!" Gai exclaimed as he came over. "…you're reading those books already," he said flatly. This earned him a smirk (not that you could see it) from the white-haired teen in front of him. "You're lucky I'm giving you the day off or I would have to punish you for being so late! Now then, I've heard from Asuma and Kurenai that they're giving their students the day off. So I figured you three could take Kakashi and introduce him to all of them!"

A look of pure horror crossed Kakashi's face as his head snapped up from the book. "I thought you said you weren't punishing me!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll enjoy meeting them!" Completely ignoring the younger jounin's protests, Gai shoved him, along with the other three, out of the clearing. "I'll know if you're not there!"

Kakashi trudged behind Lee and Tenten, visible eye miserable. This would not end well. He knew it wouldn't. He couldn't even get along with the genins of his own time! What made anyone think these genins would even want to be around him! Gai's team was okay, but all they'd done so far was train. Kakashi had never hung out with anyone his own age before!

"Come on, this'll be great!" Lee told him.

"Yeah, don't let your first impression with Neji fool you, most of us are a whole lot smarter than him," Tenten joked, earning herself a glare from aforementioned teammate.

"Heh, you think so?" Kakashi asked sourly.

"What do you have against genins?"

"I have never been the one who had the problem," he growled.

"Well, these guys are great! They except anyone into the group!"

"That's an understatement," Neji muttered.

"Awe come on, hurry up!" Lee called to them from much farther ahead.

"No thanks, I think I'll risk Gai's wrath to not have to bother," Kakashi said, turning to walk away.

Tenten grabbed him and Lee was over in an instant. They began dragging him through the village, intent on getting to wherever the other genins were meeting. Kakashi struggled, not wanted to hurt them since they weren't training.

"Don't make me hurt you," he growled, trying to pull his arm away from Lee.

"Don't make us hurt you!" Tenten laughed. "Don't worry, it'll be fine!"

"You must have a death wish because if you seriously think I'm going to spend the day doing who-knows-what with you and a bunch of other genins then your out of your mind!"

"It'll be fun!" Lee told him, struggling to hold on to Kakashi, due to the increasing strength he was using to try and get away. "We all get along so well, you'll have fun!"

"I swear the next time we fight, I'm going to make sure I rip your head off!" Several other swears followed this until Tenten and Lee finally let him go.

He spun around and was about to leap at them when he realized they let him go because they reached their destination. There were six people staring at him. They were all about his age. Crap! He didn't do well with people his age!


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Remind me to kill you tomarrow!" Kakashi told Lee and Tenten angrily. He really did not want to do this! His apprehension had changed quickly to frustration at being forced to do this.

"Will do!" Lee agreed. "Guys! This is Kakashi! Kakashi-sensei!"

"We know," Ino snapped.

"Our sensei's told us about him," Kiba said, walking over. "You're a lot shorter than I expected."

Kakashi's visible eye twitched.

"This is troublesome," Shikamaru muttered. "Why do we have to be here again?"

"Lazy! We all wanted to see what Kakashi looked like remember!" Ino shouted at him.

"I'm right here!" Kakashi snapped angrily. "And I am not some display, you stupid genins!"

There was a second of silence as if they were trying to contemplate what he had just said.

"You sure are arrogant," Kiba muttered angrily. Even Shino seemed to dislike the jounin's comment, though it was much harder to tell with him. "You want to back up that statement?!"

"And Gai shows himself to be the most intelligent of the senseis," Kakashi said offhandedly. "At least he told you. These poor little fools don't know what they're dealing with."

Tenten slapped her hand to her forehead. Most of the Genins looked quite angered by this new remark.

"What makes you think you're so special?" Shikamaru asked quietly.

"Hey wait! Shikamaru's a chuunin! We're not all genins, right Shikamaru?" Ino declared and turned towards her teammate. "Why aren't you wearing your vest?!"

"It was too troublesome to put it on."

"…!"

"What rank are you?" Shino asked, speaking up.

"Um…guys…he's a jounin," Tenten informed them, gesturing towards the vest he wore.

"You're a what?!" Kiba exclaimed. They all looked at him with wide eyes.

"Jou…nin…" Kakashi said slowly, as if they were stupid. "And before the inevitable questions come: I became a chuunin at the age of six. No I have never been on a team with other genin. I was first put on a team when I became a chuunin. My teammates were both more than three years older than me. And….no, I'm not going to prove myself by fighting you."

"Arrogant," Shikamaru muttered. His looked rather annoyed, but then again, that was usual whenever he was doing pretty much anything.

"That's…that's insane…" Ino managed to get out. "You were a chuunin before the age when we even entered the academy!"

"And they call you a genius, Neji!" came a laughing voice from behind the group. "Sorry we're late!"

"Naruto-kun! Sakura-chan!" Lee shouted in greeting. Most of the group turned to glance at the new arrivals. Kakashi was not one of them. He'd already turned around and begun walking away.

"Sasuke's still sick," a girl's voice told them. "We don't know what's wrong with him, but he should get better. He was really mad he couldn't come."

"Hey, Kakashi!" Tenten yelled at him.

"Tell Gai I came, had fun, and it was great," he said calmly, not even looking back. He pulled out his book, completely ignoring Tenten's yells.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei!" a the girl yelled angrily from behind him.

"Don't you at least want to meet your own students?!" shouted the annoying voice he'd heard before.

Kakashi paused. "I have students?" he asked in an incredibly surprised voice. "What did I do?"

"What do you mean?" asked the girl voice again.

"I mean, I must have done something pretty bad for hokage-sama to punish me like that," Kakashi answered. He turned around to face them and nearly had a heart-attack.

"What's with the look on his face?" Naruto asked.

"Kakashi?" Tenten said cautiously.

"That's what he looked like when he got freaked about his sensei," Neji told her. He was being surprisingly helpful. …that was probably because he didn't like Kakashi and seemed to be smirking at this development.

"When what? …Oh yeah…oh crap!" Tenten and Lee ran over to him as Kakashi began shaking. He was staring at Naruto, visible eye wide. But…what could possibly be wrong with him? "Kakashi?"

Lee seemed on the verge of freaking out. He had no idea what was the matter or what to do, but yet he felt there had to be something. Kakashi obviously needed help and they had no real way of giving it to him. But…but…

"Lee!" Tenten said in an authoritive voice, "Go get Gai-sensei!" With a quick salute Lee was gone.

Naruto and Sakura, along with the others, were highly confused. What the hell could have freaked Kakashi out so much that he was like this? Why was he staring at Naruto so freaked out? This was Kakashi right?!

The young jounin was completely oblivious to their confusion. In front of him was boy about his own age. But…he looked so much…like…like sensei. The hair and eyes…and down to the cheerful look he'd had on when he'd walked over. It was so much like his sensei that Kakashi could almost see the older man standing behind this boy, as if a reflection. And the boy's name…Naruto.

This was that child. The one that Kyuubi had been sealed inside of. His sensei's son.

Flashbacks and scenes from the past flooded his mind. It hurt so bad. He knew his sensei was gone, he knew it. But this…boy…he looked so much like him. He was his son! The one who had lived, and the one whom his sensei had given his life to put Kyuubi inside of. No! It wasn't this kid's fault. He knew that. But why did it hurt so bad?! Just…to see him…it hurt!

_There! Kakashi saw the shock of bright hair that made the Yondaime Hokage stand out. He put forth the last of his energy into making it there. But even as he grew closer his sensei was making hand signs rapidly, as if he knew his student was there to stop him. Just as Kakashi made it within a few feet of the man a bright flash surrounded him._

"_SENSEI!" Kakashi screamed. He felt his heart and mind shatter as he saw the only adult he had ever respected fall to the ground. _

_The fox made have given a huge cry of pain as it died. The surviving ninja may have slowly begun to come out of their shelters. They may have gasped when they saw their Hokage lying there, dead._

_Kakashi didn't know, nor did he care. Before he even realized he'd moved, he had his sensei in his arms, staring blankly towards the sky. There was a slight smile on his face, as if he'd accomplished what he'd truly intended._

_But Kakashi saw none of this either. Tears were leaking down his face, being absorbed by the mask that covered it._

Kakashi gripped his silver hair in his hands and clenched his eyes tight as more memories flooded through his mind. He didn't want to see them. Didn't want to remember. Yet it was almost as if his mind was pulling them up purposely!

_Kakashi knelt in front of the monument, tears leaking down his face. It was all he could do. It had been a week since sensei had died. He'd only ever left the monument to eat and sleep. And he only did that when Tsunade or Jiraiya would come and drag him._

"_Kakashi," a voice said from behind him, "How are you?"_

_He didn't even turn around. He didn't care. Nothing really mattered anymore._

"_The child, Naruto, is doing better. He would have wanted you to at least see his only child," Jiraiya's voice told him._

"_I care nothing for that thing," Kakashi said angrily, voice already bordering on hysterics._

"_You know it is not the child's fault," Jiraiya told him sharply._

"_I don't care! I can't think about anything without being reminded of him Jiraiya-sama! Everything brings up some memory…I don't want to meet his kid… I don't care anymore…"_

"_Kakashi, you cannot just stay here, there are still more important things-"_

"_I don't have anything left!" Kakashi cried out, spinning to face the sannin. "They're all gone! All of them…I just don't care anymore!"_

"_I thought you were stronger than to give up hope so easily."_

"_What hope?!"_

"_His son is alive, Kakashi. He exists and he carries the demon inside him. But he will not succumb to it. There is hope Kakashi. This child…"_

_Kakashi had never heard Jiraiya like this, but at the moment he still couldn't bring himself to care. "That's good for him."_


	13. Chapter 13

Wow, that was a lot of reviews for one chapter, I'm glad you guys are enjoying this so much. Well, most of you just wanted an update, so here it is.

Chapter 13

"Kakashi…Kakashi!" Gai tried to get the thirteen-year-old to snap out of it, but it was no use. "Lee, go get Hokaga-sama!" he shouted.

This Kakashi was different. Gai had always known that his rival had lost his friends at young age, but had no idea the condition he'd been in because of it. The Kakashi he knew was always calm and collected, he had never cried, had never let his anger get out of control, and always knew boundaries better than those who set them. He had never imagined Kakashi capable of anything like this at even the youngest age.

W-was this what would happen to Lee if he ever died? The thought caused a shock to Gai. In a way, he had a feeling that this was exactly what would become of Lee if Gai died while he was still this young. It was a scary thought.

The rest of the genins, and Shikamaru, were highly confused as to what was going on. They stood back, frantically wondering what could possibly be wrong. This was Kakashi they were talking about. He looked so much like the jounin they knew, only smaller, yet his personality was almost infinitely different. He was cocky and arrogant, he had no problem degrading people whom he didn't believe worthy of his time, and now here he was freaking out because he'd seen Naruto. It didn't add up.

There was a small cloud of smoke as Tsunade appeared next to Gai. She swore.

"I hoped the shock of being in a new time would have meant this wouldn't be an issue," she said as she bent down next to Kakashi, who was on his knees. "Before it was like this for…I don't think he ever calmed down until about a month after it happened. Jiraiya beat some sense into him. I believe he was the only one that could. He was the only one left Kakashi respected, gods know, he certainly didn't like me!"

"He didn't like you?" Gai asked in surprise. Kakashi had always shown respect to Tsunade, though he did like to push her buttons as often as possible.

"Where the hell is Jiraiya, he was supposed to be back by now! If he took a detour I'll rip his throat out! Yes, he seemed to think I didn't show his sensei enough respect. He called me a pushy, over-bearing, old hag. He often times told Rin that being a healer wasn't worth it if she had to work with me."

Putting her hands on his shoulders, Tsunade shook Kakashi gently and began whispering to him. It didn't seem to have much of an effect. She sighed. She did care about Kakashi, she had known him since he'd graduated the academy at the age of five. It was a shock to her recalling him as he'd been at this time. Konoha did not need Kakashi in this condition. Even as a child, he was still an amazing ninja, one of Konoha's best, having him like this was not okay right now.

"Gai, take him to the monument. Don't let him stay there through the night. The rest of you," she turned towards the genin (and Shikamaru), "Don't talk about this, if you value your health. Kakashi will be better and once he is I won't prevent him from killing you if you give him a hard time. I'll explain this, just so he doesn't have to…

"This is not the Kakashi you know. As you've been told, this is pretty much him from when he was thirteen. About a year before his memory gap, his best friend, Obito Uchiha, was killed by stone ninja. After that, his other teammate, Rin, was killed from healing others in the war until she put forth her life force to save others. Two weeks before this gap in memory, his sensei, Yondaime Hokage, died to seal away the fox Kyuubi. Do not let me hear you repeat this to anyone!"

With that she disappeared.

Upon arriving in Hokage Tower, Tsunade immediately ordered an ANBU squad to find Jiraiya and bring him back. She would kill him once she got a hold of him. Normally she wouldn't have cared as much if he came back late, but this was not normally and she knew that she could not bring Kakashi's mind back safely without his help.

All the genins, and one chuunin, were staring confusedly around at each other. They'd never imagined that Kakashi, copy-nin and biggest pain-in-the-but sensei Kakashi, had had any problems as a kid. He had always been so calm and cheerful. And…why did Naruto make him freak out so much?

Naruto thought he knew. If Kakashi's sensei had died to seal the fox inside him, then he probably blamed Naruto…or at least didn't like him. Hell, Naruto probably wouldn't like him much either. But he certainly wasn't about to tell everyone else about the fox.

"I thought he had it together," Tenten whispered. "He got upset once, but then when Gai talked to him he was okay. It must be hard to lose his friends, since he's our age…"

Lee was shaking slightly. He'd noticed the look on Gai's face when he'd been bent down next to Kakashi. What would he do if Gai died? He didn't really know. Or in this case it would be more if Neji and Tenten died and then Gai died as well. Lee didn't think he'd be able to live if that happened. This Kakashi didn't look like he could either, yet as an adult he had always seemed fine.

"Hmpf," Neji grunted and turned to walk away. "I hope he can still train with us, he better not be too pathetic for that."

"Neji!" Tenten yelled.

"Besides," Lee said seriously, "You lost to him before." There was a collective gasp.

"Well…he is a jounin, it makes sense," Ino announced.

"How badly did he beat you?" Kiba laughed.

"Knocked him out," Tenten laughed. "Neji landed a hit on him, he got mad, then proceeded to beat the crap out of good ole Neji here."

"I'll get him next time."

"What jutsu did he use?" Sakura asked.

"None," Lee answered, "So far all he's used is taijutsu like me. He did summon these dogs once, but that was it."

"He beat Neji using just taijutsu?" Naruto asked in a shocked tone of voice. This earned him a glare and a sad look from Lee. "Oh…sorry."

"At first he used his sharingan, but he stopped after a while. It doesn't help him against Lee or Neji so my moves are all he would need it for and he doesn't really need it for them," Tenten told them.

"Think he'll fight us if he feels better?" Naruto asked excitedly. "All of us at once maybe?"

"That would be troublesome," Shikamaru told him.

"Maybe…" Tenten said slowly.

"He was so arrogant before," Shino said quietly, "That he probably would."

"That would be so cool!"


	14. Chapter 14

Hello! Well, I hope you all enjoy this new chapter. And a big thanks to everyone who reviewed!

Chapter 14

Jiraiya was not in a good mood as he headed through the woods to the monument. He had been called back by ANBU members and had arrived to Tsunade yelling at him for being late and not coming back immediately. As if he'd been a week late, not a few days!

But that was not why he was in a bad mood. He had been explained in detail what had happened with Kakashi and now the responsibility of helping the young jounin was placed on his shoulders. He's been promised that Kakashi only needed to calm down, then he could stay with the genins. Easier said than done.

Remembering this Kakashi even better than Tsunade, he was not looking forward to talking to the little brat. Upon arriving at the clearing and the monument he saw the white-haired ninja bent down in front of it. Just the image brought back all the memories of this time. The boy would often sit/kneel exactly like that whenever he went to the monument.

"Brat, you still crying here?" Jiraiya asked. Tsunade had said to be harsh, it was the only thing that would wake him up.

It certainly worked. Kakashi's head snapped up and he spun around, eyes wide. He looked Jiraiya up and down several times, obviously taking in the appearance of him being so much older. "Go away," he finally said.

"No."

"Whatever," Kakashi muttered, turning around again. His shoulders were very tense.

"When was the last time you had the common sense to sleep?" Jiraiya asked, walking closer until he was standing right over the boy.

"Last night."

"You're lying."

"So?"

"When was the last time you slept?" Jiraiya asked sharply, kneeling down in front of the small jounin.

No answer.

"Kakashi!"

"The first night I woke up without my memories," Kakashi mumbled, looking away.

From what Tsunade had said, that had been more than four days ago. "Why?"

"…"

"Nightmares?"

"…"

"I already know the answers, runt. I lived through this before and I know how to handle you. You've been having nightmares and you're still blaming yourself," Jiraiya informed him. This would not be fun. If he was unlucky the boy would attack him soon, hopefully he'd have more control though.

"What do you want!" Kakashi snapped.

"I want you to stop acting like an idiot! You're a genius, not a fool and you know how this will-"

"Sure genius-boy Kakashi isn't it! Throw that out there! I'm an elite ninja so I shouldn't act like a baby? Or I'm a genius so I don't feel!" Kakashi screamed while standing up.

That was not expected.

"I'm never treated my age am I! People expect me to have control and be strong and fight like an expert because I'm a genius and a jounin, yet they put me with genins and expect me to be fine with it! I'm expected to have the maturity of an adult, but I'm supposed to make friends with people who would never understand what that truly means!"

Jiraiya was not stunned, but he had not been expecting this. Kakashi had always hated or at least disliked the rift that separated him from any ninja within ten years of his age. But…he had never said anything about it. Pairing him with the genins had obviously been a bad first move. Maybe he wouldn't have minded if it had come later, but the boy couldn't cope with that anger along with his sadness.

"That's why you loved him so much isn't it?" Jiraiya asked. "He was the first person to take you for who you were and could understand your situation."

"Obito did too," Kakashi admitted quietly. "He treated me like he would someone his own age, always told me to lighten up. Rin acted like a big sister to both of us so it didn't really matter when she did it…"

"…" Jiraiya waited to see if he would say more. If he did, this would be a lot faster than he'd thought.

"I was never enough though," he whispered. "I couldn't save Obito in time. I was strong enough to, I know I was, but I just didn't see them until it was too late. And…and Rin, the signs were there the whole time, I just, didn't think that she would go past her limit, she was always so cautious. And sensei he…"

"Yondaime would never have let you give your life for him," Jiraiya told him. "You know that as well as I. He loved you three more than anything, he'd been so happy to be allowed a team at such a young age. And even once the others were gone, he still had you. I still remember them Kakashi. They won't go away if you leave the monument. It's been more than ten years and I still remember the first time he bragged to me about how he got the best team in existence."

Jiraiya turned to walk away and noticed that Kakashi followed him. They walked on in silence for a while.

"I still don't know how you managed to stay awake so many nights in a row," Jiraiya told him, finally breaking the silence.

"I found your books," Kakashi admitted, smiling slightly. "You're much farther along then you were; I have to catch up."

Jiraiya began laughing. That was such a typical response from the boy. Or…maybe that was more of the older Kakashi speaking and not the young one.


	15. Chapter 15

Hiya! I hope you enjoy this new chapter, and thank you to all reviewers!

Chapter 15

Kakashi woke up a little after dawn the next day. His sleep hadn't been good, but it hadn't been bad enough that he'd woken up from it. The usual dreams about his friends and sensei, but this time it didn't seem quite so bad. It still hurt when he woke up, but not quite as bad as the past few days. Mostly it was of times before they had died, which was better than the times when he dreamt of their deaths.

Quickly getting changed into clothes that were actually his size he checked through his house's kitchen. He briefly wondered why most of the food could be made in less than ten minutes, but didn't dwell on it. He was hungry and he didn't feel like waiting for something special.

After eating he left the house. Kakashi wondered where he should go. Maybe it would be okay if he went and found Gai again. He was tired of being with genins, simply as a matter of pride, but he didn't have anywhere else to go. Yanking a book out of his pouch, he started reading it as he made his way to the training area. He did know where it was, he wasn't nearly as forgetful as people though.

Coming closer he sensed there was more than just four people there. He judged there to be at least…sixteen…maybe, it was hard to tell with so many of varying degrees of chakra. He wondered why there were so many there. Sneaking up and looking down at the group from a tree he saw that all of those genins from the other day were there. Also Jiraiya was there and those jounin he'd met when he'd first woken up. Weird.

"Told you he'd be here," Jiraiya announced, turning around. He hadn't been facing Kakashi, but looked directly at him.

The you jounin glared at him when he hopped down from the tree. "And what would you have done if I didn't come? I could have been sitting in my house reading your books," as he said that he gestured to the one he was holding.

"There you are!" Naruto exclaimed, running to the front. "You're late!"

Kakashi had to suppress the sadness that came into him upon seeing the boy, but he managed it. "I got lost."

"A LIE!" cried both Naruto and that other girl who was apparently part of his team. He wondered briefly why there wasn't a third team member around, but didn't get a chance to ask.

"Come on!" Lee cried, running over. "They all want to fight you!"

Kakashi turned to glare at Jiraiya immediately. Hadn't he gotten the point!

"Don't look at me like that, midget," Jiraiya told him. "You'll find an eleven-on-one fight far more difficult than you think."

"Eleven-on-one?" Kakashi nearly shouted.

"Yup!" Gai said cheerfully. "If you can take on my team all at once the others wil be no problem!"

"We agreed that the teams were equal!" Asuma and Kurenai yelled at him at the same time.

"Yeah yeah," Gai said offhandedly.

"Think you can do this?" Neji asked him.

"I'm sure I can handle it. I just hope you don't fall unconscious this time, you looked really pathetic," Kakashi told him with a smirk that only he knew was there.

"So, we can assume that you agree?" Kurenai asked.

"As long as I'm not fighting you four," Kakashi told them cheerfully.

"GO!" Gai suddenly shouted.

Kakashi was glad he had gotten a good look at them before because they were gone almost a second after Gai shouted that. There was another Hyuuga he had to watch out for. That chuunin kid could cause him dome trouble. And Naruto had the nine-tail fox in him. Plus there was Lee and he was also someone to watch out for.

Thinking quickly, Kakashi pulled the hitai-ate up before pulling out the scroll to summon Pakkun and the other dogs. If they tried attacking him while he was doing this, he's need to see it in time. There were no attacks though and he summoned them without a problem. He shoved the forehead protector down so he wouldn't waist chakra.

"There's ten genin, one chuunin," he said quickly. "Fight any of them you want, except the two Hyuuga. I need a distraction, I can't fight eleven people at once."

The eight dogs barked simultaneously before charging into the woods.

"They'd better be prepared for this, there's only one move I won't risk using," Kakashi told the jounins and Jiraiya.

"Raikiri?" Jiraiya questioned, "I thought you learned that around fifteen."

"I get it to raikiri?" Kakashi asked. "Cool! It's chidori now, by the way."

"The only technique you have that's yours and your not using it?" Kurenai asked.

"Not unless you want your little students shredded to pieces!" Kakashi shouted as a small shadow came towards him from the woods. "What the hell is that!"

He flipped to the side and threw several kunai in the direction it had come from. As he watched the wooded line carefully, he wracked his brain for what that technique was.

"Oh! It's that shadow thing, I remember that," he muttered as he pulled out several shuriken. Note to self, touching a shadow makes you as good as dead.

That was another skill, but he had no time to dwell. The shadow was coming after him as was a swarm of kunai and shuriken that was definitely Tenten's. So they were trying long distance first, how appropriate. Yet, very annoying. He figured they'd probably send in fighters soon. They had several people he figured would make it quite difficult to fight against.

This thought was proven when the attacks stopped coming. He waited patiently in the middle of the clearing. He noticed that the jounin were watching him closely. Well, he'd give them something to watch as soon as the moment arrived. After all, it would be foolish of him to attack, he had to wait until they made their move.

He slowly lifted his hitai-ate up once more. Scanning the trees he finally saw several figures coming towards him. They broke tree cover. It was both Hyuugas, Naruto, Lee, and Kiba. He watched them closely. He knew he couldn't copy the Hyuuga techniques, but that didn't mean the others wouldn't have something.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to wait, Kakashi though frantically. They were faster than he'd thought and they were all coming at once. It didn't help that he had to avoid two of their attackers like the plague.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto cried. About fifty more of him appeared. Kakashi cheered in his head, the kid had done it while he was watching.

"First mistake, Uzumaki!" Kakashi told him. He quickly copied the hand seals. About one hundred more of him appeared.

It may split his chakra, but right now he only needed it to create them. His plan was to use their jutsus against them. There were others he'd already copied, but he hoped to not have to use them.

"I wonder how much reading I could get done like this," he wondered out loud before his army of Kakashis attacked. Original Kakashi pulled down his hitai-ate and lost himself in the crowd of copies before disappearing into the woods.

He knew that those copies would last a while. Even if they could only get hit once, they still had his skill for taijutsu and that would last him long enough to find the rest of his opponents.


	16. Chapter 16

Well, here's the new chapter, I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 16

Kakashi leapt through the trees quickly. There were two things he needed to find. They were the other genins along with that chuunin and he needed to know what happened to his nin-dogs. As far as he could sense there were only about three of them left. He didn't think it was possible for them have been taken care of so easily which meant he needed to be very careful in the forest.

One special move could stand between him and victory. And he would win. He had to. After all he'd said to the losers before, he had to beat them. There was no way he could lose. Plus, he didn't want any of them dwelling on his friends and on him. If they were awed at his strength they might not ask questions.

That Naruto kid's jutsu had been helpful, it meant he didn't need to waist time fighting the others. It did split his chakra, though, which meant he needed to be careful as to how he attacked. He knew he could handle it though.

Forming a quick seal, he disappeared in a puff of smoke and appeared near Pakkun. He'd noticed that Pakkun was one of the dogs still left and had hoped that Pakkun wasn't around any of his opponents. The small dog wasn't.

"Kakashi," Pakkun greeted. The dog didn't seem to have any problems with Kakashi as a child, for which the young jounin was most grateful, at least Pakkun believed in him.

"What happened to the others, there's only three of you left?"

"I wasn't around them, from what I can tell they were attacked by something in the forest. From what I've seen with you before, one of the genins should be of the Aburame Clan, I think that's what it is."

"Aburame…bugs right?" Kakashi had memorized all of Konoha's clans and their special skills before, but sometimes it was hard to keep track since the only person he knew personally who was of a specific clan had been Obito. "Bugs…that explains it…and oh shit," he said flatly.

Entering the forest had been the worst possible mistake he could have made. That Aburame kid wouldn't even have to use the bugs in his own body to get to Kakashi here. Bad…very bad.

Thinking quickly, Kakashi prepared to take off. "Pakkun, get the other dogs and get out of the forest. I need to find something out."

This was very well planned. It must be what had taken them so long to get started. One of them was leading them and he needed to know who. If he could make a guess he'd say it was probably that chuunin kid, but he couldn't be sure. Either way, they were playing this right, and he needed to prevent any new plans from coming up. He pulled the hitai-ate up.

Flitting through the forest, Kakashi used the sharingan to see any traps that lay about. He was surprised to notice quite a few that he hadn't encountered closer to the edge of the forest. So far he hadn't taken out any of them and he was already very worried that he was playing into someone's hands. It was something he'd always been able to notice even if he couldn't figure out details.

Finally he sensed someone nearby. He jumped down next to them. It was that chuunin kid.

"Hey," he said before charging at him. Even if this kid wasn't coming up with strategies he was still going to be a problem.

As a shadow came flying towards him he leapt out of its path. It swerved around and chased after him. Kakashi sensed another person nearby only seconds before a large amount of immensely sharp objects came heading his way. He dodged and jumped and spun, avoiding everything. It didn't take him too long to realize he was being pushed back into one of the traps. It took him an equally short time to see the large leaches with right above it.

Okay, so that left him three options. Stabbed and dead, eaten and dead, or controlled and lost. He'd rather be dead, but if he did that he'd still lose. Oh, someone was going to pay for this. Maybe Jiraiya, he'd probably set them up for this. Oh well, here goes.

If Kakashi took a step back, he'd be in a trap and there were kunai flying right at him. Diving towards the shadow, Kakashi managed to not get hit by the knives or devoured by the bugs. He was, however, caught. Even though he'd seen this coming, he still hated it and swore at himself viciously.

His head lifted up to meet the eyes of the chuunin kid. "Nara right?" he asked.

Shikamaru nodded. "This was a troublesome fight." He began walking forwards, this of course meant Kakashi walked forwards.

"I hate this technique," Kakashi growled. He'd seen it before while he was younger and had felt its effects first-hand, he still hated it. "So, did you plan on me going into the forest? Or did you figure if I didn't I'd just lose?"

"Either worked."

"Why did you purposely get captured?" Tenten asked, hopping down from a tree.

"It was either that or get stabbed or eaten," Kakashi answered. He'd have shrugged, but, well, he couldn't move.

"How do you know my ability?" asked another voice that must belong to the Aburame kid.

"I know all of Konoha's clans and their ability. Pakkun told me what was taking out my nin-dogs so it wasn't that hard."

Out of habit, Kakashi went to reach up to pull the hitai-ate down. He couldn't. He still couldn't move. Oh crap. It then dawned on Kakashi the rest of their plan. Shikamaru wouldn't be able to hold the jutsu forever, but by the time he let it go, Kakashi's chakra would be quite drained and he would be near useless.


	17. Chapter 17

Wow! I'm amazed, this story has reached one hundred reviews! Thanks so much to all my reviewers!

As I'm sure some of you noticed, I skipped the last update time. I won't be able to update quite as frequently right now, but I will still be getting them out. Not to worry! So, well, here it is!

Chapter 17

Kakashi glared as much as he could at the three around him. There was no way he was okay with just allowing himself to be captured like this. He would make sure they paid! First off he needed to figure out a solution to his chakra problem.

He could simply close his eyes, it was a small enough movement that he might just manage it. Upon trying to do so he realized how much chakra the kid must be pouring into this move. It was so strong it took a whole lot of effort for Kakashi to manage even so small a movement as closing his eyes.

This also put him at a disadvantage, though. He couldn't see anything, but it was a sacrifice he'd have to make if he wanted to save his chakra. Stupid eye! Well, then again, if it weren't for the sharingan he'd have had to waist his time fighting the others, that would have been a pain.

"Since your just standing there Kakashi," Tenten started, voice smug.

"I hate you so much right now." Even talking was far more difficult than he knew it should have been.

"I wanted to know why you hate genins so much. Or anyone for that reason. People your own age. Why is it you don't like people your own age?" she asked.

"Why don't you ask people my own age and find out the answer," he growled. He really wished he could allow himself to see.

"We don't have a problem-"

"You also know me! If you'd been growing up knowing me, you'd have been just like them. Like everyone else."

"Well, you're kind of a jerk, but no more than Neji is and we live with him."

"I'm not talking about it." Kakashi was entirely aware that Shino was still around as was Shikamaru, though he was obvious.

"Why?" Tenten's voice was forceful.

Kakashi was beginning to sense other people coming closer and began to get a little nervous.

"Why is it you hate people your own age? What did they do to you? How did they treat you? Tell me, I'm not going to hold it against you."

"Why should I?"

"It helps to talk about it."

Kakashi was silent for a while. He wasn't sure what made him say it. It was possible he was just so annoyed that he didn't care what they knew. He could have just felt like ranting, maybe he wanted them to know. So he could have something real to hold against them?

"I have never had a friend my own age. When I was five I became a genin okay? You think kids who hadn't even entered the academy wanted to hang out with me. I wasn't put on a genin team because no one wanted to put me with people of normal genin age. The only reason I was put on a team when I became a chuunin was because they thought I needed to have some level of teamwork," he said all this with a calm voice, as if he didn't care. He could keep his cool when talking about this, it was something he'd accepted.

"I was never invited to hang out with people my own age, I used to try, you know, thinking they wouldn't care. Hell, Obito didn't even like me when we were put on the same team. He hated me. Of course, being thirteen and having a six year old stronger than him…I'd have hated me too.

"And you think you're better than them? You think that you'd have understood if there was someone your own age who was more than five times stronger than you? You only don't care now because you've known me as an adult that's stronger than you."

"We wouldn't have cared!" screamed a voice from behind him. It was that Sakura girl's voice.

"Oh joy," Kakashi said sarcastically. "Let's see," he muttered, sensing their chakra, "Naruto, that Inuzuka kid, both Hyuugas, someone else, and…I think that's Lee, hard to tell."

"You could just open your eyes," Shikamaru told him.

"I'm not stupid. You can't hold this for long. If I'm having this hard of a time talking, then you're using a lot of chakra, I'll be out of here in no time."

"You'll have to fight all of us when that happens!" Lee shouted cheerfully.

"You can hardly fight me and Lee at the same time, you aren't strong enough to fight all of us at once," Neji said. "Stop whining, you're not the only one with a bad past."

"Awe, you got problems too. Branch family member?" Kakashi asked mockingly. He wondered what Gai would do to him if he killed Neji. That would be enjoyable.

"You…" Neji growled, he didn't seem able to finish.

"Neji, don't!" Tenten screamed.

Kakashi could feel him coming closer, but was incapable of moving. Shit. A blow to Kakashi's back sent him flying forward. He didn't have time to react before Neji began attacking rapidly.

Swearing in his head, the jounin put all his energy forth and managed to get a foot in and kick Neji in the stomach, sending him back. Kakashi collapsed to his hands and knees, gasping for breath. That had been a lot of hits. He coughed. Wiping his mouth, he saw blood there. Getting to his feet and shaking with rage, Kakashi faced Neji who appeared to be in the same condition.

The white-haired ninja performed several seals before blowing into hands. "Fire style!" Flames flew towards Neji and all the others near him. As Neji moved, Kakashi followed him as best he could. The second Neji touched ground again, he formed different seals. "Earth style," he mumbled.

A cloud of smoke covered the area. They looked and saw Neji in the dirt up to his neck and Kakashi standing over him. Before the others had a chance to react, Kakashi launched himself at them. He attacked as fiercely as he could, leaping between Lee and Naruto and fending off Kiba and his dog. It was harder than he thought, but he was now reacting on pure instinct. The sharingan helped him see the attacks as they came, his body was just barely fast enough to react with it.

Kakashi knew he was going to far, but he couldn't stop. He just couldn't. It would be like giving up and he couldn't give up. The young jounin didn't really understand why he felt the need to win so much or why he was fighting as if these guys had done him a personal wrong, but he couldn't help it. He had never gotten his anger out before and here it was.

He slammed a powerful kick into Naruto's side had the kid collapsed on the ground. Taking out Kiba and his dog simultaneously, he spun around. Kicking Lee directly in the head, the boy collapsed. Kakashi didn't even see the rest of his opponents anymore as the effects of using the sharingan so much caught up with him.

He collapsed, hitting the ground almost immediately after Lee.


	18. Chapter 18

Sorry, I forgot to update again. Well, here's the new chapter, I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 18

It was dark. That was the first thing Kakashi noticed when he woke up. And he was in something soft. Also…his chakra felt entirely drained. Creepy.

Kakashi nearly launched himself out of what he discovered was his bed, only to get tangled up in the blankets. He hit the floor with a loud thud. Carefully disentangling himself, the young jounin looked around for a clock. Surely he must have a clock! He didn't grow up that strange right? He finally spotted it in the darkness and felt around for a button to light it up. Finally he pressed the biggest one and the face of the clock lit up. It was midnight. The other jounins had probably just dropped him off at his house, he thought as he remembered what had happened. Over-board again. It was depressing.

Silently, he flitted through his house. His goal: the door and then onto the roof. He liked the roof of this house, maybe his adult self liked that too. It was one of the random things he found himself wondering about how he grew up. Did he pick this house for the roof or for other reasons? How many times had he read the Icha Icha books? Things that didn't really matter.

Once on top of the building he sat down in the middle and laid back to stare at the stars. That was one of the nice things about living in a ninja village, there weren't that many lights at night so you could always see the stars. Except for that time when they were attacked by Kyuu-! NO! He wouldn't think about that. His goal was to get over it and be able to function normally.

A sound nearby alerted Kakashi to the presence of someone else. He didn't even lift his head as he heard the person walk over and sit down next to him.

"Do you hate me?" asked a quiet voice. It was that Naruto kid.

Kakashi sighed. "No. Not…you…"

"People used to hate me. None of the others know about Kyuubi. Iruka-sensei was the first person who didn't hate me, he didn't care that I had Kyuubi inside of me," Naruto's voice was soft, as if looking for some kind of reassurance.

Kakashi felt guilt wash over him. "I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"I should have gotten to know you. Sensei would have wanted it. And Jiraiya told me I should. It's one of the last things I remember, we got into a big fight about it, I was afraid," he admitted.

"Of me right?"

"Yes…and no. Not of the fox, not of what you were, but of who. I was afraid of looking at you and seeing my sensei. I guess Jiraiya must have just given up, I apparently didn't do anything…"

"What was he like…my…my father?" Naruto's voice cracked. It was something he'd wondered about before. What his parents had been like…who they were while they were alive.

It wasn't something Kakashi had been expecting, though maybe he should have. His surprise was probably what allowed him to answer. "He was…amazing, he…he always understood. Anyone could get along with him, he just had the kind of personality that makes you know you could trust him.

"He was considered a genius too, he became a jounin when he was fourteen. I think that's why I was able to get so close to him, he was the first person who really understood what it was like for me to be around people my age, but knowing we couldn't understand each other.

"It…it was no surprise to anyone when he became Hokage. His determination, his strength, his love of life, and…his need to protect. 'It's hokage's job to protect the village.'"

They were both very quiet for a while. Kakashi was kind of shocked. It was the first time he'd been able to simply talk about his sensei…and it had been to his sensei's son. Before…everything had sent him spiraling into depression, but just now…he'd finally said something and it had felt good. It still hurt, but not so much in a bad way.

"I'm sorry you never knew him, he would have made a good father. He was like mine… I guess, I always saw him as a father. He was the one who found me, when my own father killed himself."

"You didn't like your father did you?" Naruto asked suddenly. His voice was strong, though Kakashi could see the tears streaking down his cheeks.

"No. When I was really little he did…something, everyone in the village hated him for it. After that he killed himself when I was around seven. I hated him for it, for being so weak…that he could not live for me, his own son. No matter how much I wanted to deny it, people always knew who's kid I was. The white hair gave it away, I guess," he added with a laugh. Naruto laughed as well.

"Thanks, Kakashi," Naruto mumbled, standing up. "We should fight just one-on-one some time, I do better that way."

"You got it. I'll be happy to beat you up on your own," Kakashi agreed cheerfully. Then he though of something he'd been wanting to ask. "Hey why isn't there another team member on your/my team? There should be three."

"I mentioned it before, but you were rather busy. The last member is really nothing to worry about, I can beat him any day…" Naruto trailed off, he didn't really feel like lying. "He's the best in our year, actually, but I'll beat him."

"So…where is he?"

"He got sick about a week ago. He's never gotten sick before, the doctor said something about not building up 'immunity' or something like that. He'll get better."

He heard the other boy jump off.

"'It's the hokage's job to protect the village,'" he whispered with a sigh. "At least it did survive; the sacrifice truly wasn't in vain. He'd have liked to know that…"


	19. Chapter 19

Hello! Once more, I thank those who reviewed. Um...this is an incredibly random chapter, with no real purpose. I didn't have the next chapter written, so...uh...yeah, this is just random, though I will have the next one up on time!

Chapter 19

Shortly after talking to Naruto, Kakashi went back into his house to sleep for a few more hours. Waking up around dawn, he ate before taking a trip to the monument.

"I just thought you should know that I really don't think the sacrifice was in vain," Kakashi whispered. "I…should have cared more. I failed you with that boy, but I can make it up. I know I can, I just hope you know that."

He started to shake, holding back tears. Even having been able to talk about it, it didn't make this any easier for Kakashi. But he knew he had to say this stuff to him, whether his sensei could truly hear it or not, it made him feel better and he knew it was the right thing to do.

Kakashi spent an hour there and the sun was just coming up when he left the monument to go find what he was supposed to do. Upon entering the village he found everything silent. Was it only Gai's team that got up this early! Probably. Kakashi decided to go through the woods, he'd probably find one of the teams and he could just stay there until it was later in the day, after all, he certainly wasn't going to spend this time by himself.

He was almost at the edge of the village when he saw Asuma and his three students. That wasn't exactly the group he'd been hoping for. Kakashi was about to turn around and sneak away when the girl on their team noticed him.

"Kakashi! Guy's it's Kakashi!" Ino called.

"What're you doing?" Chouji asked.

"Walking," he answered shortly. He turned his attention to Shikamaru and proceeded to glare evilly at the chuunin.

"Kakashi you could almost out-glare Neji, now leave Shikamaru alone," Asuma told him, coming over and putting his hand on Kakashi's shoulder.

"Is your shadow move a bloodline trait or just something your family uses?" Kakashi asked suddenly. He'd been really worked up before and hadn't bothered to think about it, now would be a good time to find out.

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. "I don't believe it is. My family is generally the only one to use it so-!" Kakashi snapped his hands together and before they realize what he was doing a dark shadow had shot out from him to capture all of theirs.

"It's not, just so you know," Kakashi told him smugly. "I think I like this," he added thoughtfully as he moved his hand under his chin, as if considering something. Of course, that meant all of Team Asuma had to as well.

"This is troublesome," Shikamaru announced.

"Kakashi, let us go," Asuma ordered him in a very annoyed voice.

With a laugh, Kakashi withdrew the shadow. "I really shouldn't be listening to you, I still need to get back at you for before."

"For what?"

"For making me fight Gai when you knew I couldn't win, for having me fight eleven people at once, for calling me short, for…" Kakashi ticked things off on his fingers.

"I have to get my revenge on you, so I think I'll stay with you four today!" Kakashi announced cheerfully, visible eye curving.

"You're hanging out with us to get revenge on Asuma!" Ino exclaimed.

"And Shikamaru."

"Why?" Chouji asked.

"Because I'm bored and I don't feel like training with Gai's team right now."

"He really didn't pick the right group if he's bored," Shikamaru muttered. He could tell even kid Kakashi was intelligent, otherwise he wouldn't be jounin. Maybe he might be able to last more than ten moves in a game of chess, no one else could, not that he would be the one to suggest it. He looked at Asuma significantly and mimed moving a piece on a board.

Asuma nodded.

"So…what can you two do?" Kakashi asked incredulously, "Neither of you two fought yesterday. Though I already know that you can't be as good as Shadow Boy over there," he said this, pointing at Shikamaru and Asuma who were whispering suspiciously.

"Shadow Boy?" Shikamaru asked in his annoyed tone of voice which was only slightly different than his normal voice.

"Well anyway, you may be a genius at fighting Kakashi, but you're not as smart as Shikamaru, he's a chuunin," Asuma said proudly.

"I'm a jounin," Kakashi said flatly.

"Gotta admit, he is better than you Shikamaru," Ino told him cheerfully.

"So is nearly everyone else but you guys," he answered.

"Bet you couldn't beat Shikamaru at a game of chess," Asuma said suddenly.

"Well that was discreet."

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed and he glared again. "I don't trust you Asuma. I dislike you the most out of all the jounins I've met so far. …except Genma, I don't trust him."

They just stood there for a while.

"None of you are going to do anything until I say yes," Kakashi said flatly. "Fine, but only because I don't feel like looking for anyone else."

So they went to a place that had tables and sat down and played chess. It was about an hour before Shikamaru declared checkmate after going into his thinking position. Kakashi glared at him.

"In your face Kakashi!" Asuma shouted at him.

Kakashi was rather annoyed that he had lost, but if he was going to get revenge on Asuma he couldn't act like it. "Why? It's not like you beat me."

"I'm his teacher."

"Yeah, but you only last like ten minutes against him," Ino laughed while Chouji congratulated his friend.

"So, you didn't tell me what you two can do. You can do something right?"

"Of course we can do something!"

"Well?"

"I'm not going to show you just so you can copy it!"

"Whatever."


	20. Chapter 20

Heh heh, the word count for this storywithout my notes at the beginning is 22225. I find that amusing for some reason, though, I know it's not that high, but still...It's a strange number...

Anyways! Hiya! Thank you to the people who reviewed, I hope you enjoy! I'd also like to say that it may be a little bit before I update this again, but you can plan on a chapter probably within a week if I'm not as busy as I think I'll be.

Chapter 20

It was the start of a new day! And what a bright and happy day it was! The birds were chirping the ninja's were training and Kakashi…was….in an incredibly bad mood. Why? No reason could explain this…except for simply a description of his life…

After waking up that morning, the white haired ninja had gotten dressed in the only clothes he had that were his size. Eating had been annoying as he realized that he'd have to go shopping soon and that was not something he looked forward to. His mood had improved somewhat though, he'd read Icha Icha Paradise for a few minutes to calm himself and it did work. At least, it worked enough that he could feign a good mood around other people.

Now he was outside and walking around aimlessly. It was morning, but not that early so there were some people out. He'd decided he didn't particularly like Asuma's team, and he really couldn't deal with Team Gai right now. Maybe today would be a good day to take up that Uzumaki kid on his promise to fight.

Actually, that would be a great thing to do!

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei!"

Speak of the devil. Well, this was awfully convenient. Turning around, Kakashi saw Naruto was with not only Sakura, but another boy, with a dark look about him. Narrowing his eyes slightly, Kakashi felt a pang as he noticed the look of an Uchiha. Pushing the slight pain away, he waved and walked over.

"Hey!"

"This is him?" the Uchiha kid asked. "You're kind of short, aren't you?"

Kakashi's visible eye twitched. He hated Uchiha's. Well, aside from Obito, but Obito had been different, he wasn't stuck up. Psh, stupid clan.

"How many other ninjas do you think will look like me?" Kakashi asked cheerfully. "Heard you were sick."

"I'm better now," the kid said with a growl. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha."

"Hm, that's nice."

"Kakashi-sensei, have you been okay? You looked kind of…" Sakura trailed off.

"A wreck? Well, I'd imagine so!" he told her, voice still happy. "That was fun, though I think you all might have gotten more out of it with less people."

"Yeah, I didn't fight with the real you until the end!" Naruto exclaimed. "Remember you promised."

"To fight you? I was thinking we could do that now," Kakashi added. He saw Sasuke's eyes narrow. Hm. He wondered how good the boy was? Plus, you know what they say about appearances, maybe he wasn't as bad…

"You, fight him?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, that's what we said!" Naruto said angrily. "You're not taking this from me, I finally got someone who's not interested in you!"

"He can't be all that good then."

"Kakashi's a jounin, even now…" Sakura put in, trying to calm them.

"Really?" Sasuke said, turning his attention back to the young jounin.

Kakashi forced himself not to narrow his eyes. "Yep! You interested in fighting, I didn't get to go against you yet?"

"Hey! You said-" Naruto exclaimed before Sakura cut him off.

"Shut up, Naruto! You know Sasuke would be a better match anyways!"

"Hardly," Kakashi said aloofly. "To be quite honest, you'd both be quite boring. At the same time might be a different story, but neither of you are at my level."

"Is that so?"

"Oh yeah!

"Can you at least fight in the training field so you don't hit people!" Sakura yelled at them.

"Sure!" Kakashi said happily before turning around and walking away. The others followed.

When they finally made it to the open field where the group usually trained they stood there for a second.

…

"So, who's first?" the jounin asked them.

"Me!" Naruto cheered. "You said we could fight!"

"Alright. You two back off," Kakashi told them. Sasuke glared as the two walked a distance away.

Once more, Kakashi wondered if this kid knew how to summon Kyuubi. If he could then Kakashi would have to be very careful. Then again, the kid might not risk it in a fight like this. Better check, he had his own boundaries that he couldn't cross in so simple a fight.

"Are we making this real or just sparing?" he asked as they squared off. "I need to know which moves I shouldn't use, since I'd rather not kill you."

"I don't know…I guess, just sparing. Only basic chakra moves…" Naruto said.

"No, Naruto don't agree to that!" Sakura cried.

"Why not?"

"He has the sharingan, remember? Even now, he must have more moves than you?"

"Oh yeah…"

Kakashi eyed him carefully. What was he going to decide, he needed to be sure of this.

"I don't want us to die either I guess, though a real fight would be awesome! So…um…"

"Name one move," Kakashi said suddenly. "…and I'll name one move. Those will be the only moves we are allowed to use."

"Deal. I pick kage bunshin no jutsu!"

"And I pick kage bunshin no jutsu."

"Wait, you're using the sharingan!" Sakura asked.

"No, I copied this the other day, so I'm fine," Kakashi answered. "Tell us when to go."

"Alright…three…two…one…GO!"

Kakashi stood calmly, waiting for the kid to make his move. Naruto watched him for only a second before charging forward. Waiting calmly, Kakashi moved to fight back. Throwing a kick out, he slammed into Naruto before the other boy got a chance to attack.

He went flying backwards, catching the dirt with his hands before straightening.

Naruto quickly performed several copies before they all charged forward. Kakashi considered creating his own, but decided against it. He focused and fought each as they came. At one point he felt a little overwhelmed when the boy created nearly fifty of them, but it still wasn't that bad.

Finally they stopped and looked at each other. Maybe it was worth the risk.

"Can you summon the power of Kyuubi?" he asked.

"W-what?" Naruto asked.

"I said 'Can you summon the power of Kyuubi?'"

"…yes…a little…"

"Can you still remain in control of yourself?"

"Yes," Naruto said, voice confident.

"If you're sure you can control it, then do it. I'll stick with the same limitation, but I want to see what you can really do."

"All right!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

Now this…would be fun.


	21. Chapter 21

Yay, this story gets an update too! Not much to say about it really, just sorry that it was so long since I updated. T.T

Chapter 21

Kakashi faced Naruto, prepared for whatever the little fox-boy could throw at him. He doubted that even with the help of the Kyuubi, could the other kid beat him, so he wasn't worried.

As red chakra surrounded Naruto, Kakashi ran forward, his attack was met with a hastily thrown up block, though the white-haired jounin was rather surprised he had managed even that. With an amazing amount of strength Kakashi was thrown backwards, almost to the edge of the clearing by the time he managed to get his bearings. He looked up as he saw the boy leaping down at him.

Heh heh, Kakashi dodged to the right, springing off the ground the second he landed and slammed a fist into the side of the boy's face. Before Naruto could go flying away, however, Kakashi kicked out, catching him in the stomach and sending him directly up. Following him through the air, Kakashi only barely managed to get out of the way as a kick was thrown at him.

Growling like an animal, Naruto chased after him. With his increased speed, Naruto caught up to Kakashi and forced him into a defensive position with attacks of his own, fighting furiously. It was growing increasingly hard for Kakashi to block everything.

He was so used to fighting with chakra or something of the sort, it really was foolish of him to get so behind on his training. As Naruto finally managed to get a punch in, Kakashi though that maybe he should get Gai's help for his taijutsu, it obviously needed work if this kid had hit him.

Now he was angry. Naruto's eyes widened at the sudden ferocity of the attacks that Kakashi was hitting him with. The blond jumped back and put his hands together in a seal. Kakashi went to follow him, but suddenly all he could see around him was orange and the red glow of the Kyuubi chakra. Surrounding him were more clones than he could imagine anyone ever being able to create.

Now was definitely a good time to summon some of his own. The only problem would be getting the opportunity, he realized when all the ones near him attacked at once. Fighting them off by himself, he tried to make a clearing, but they all just kept coming. Whipping out a kunai in each hand he used those to fight until he gained an opportunity. It was almost monotonous.

Slash that one, spin around and attack the one that always came from the back, and then hit the ones he had seen while spinning. Only problem was that Taijutsu still wasn't his specialty and when he couldn't move in time he received a very powerful hit to the jaw that sent him flying into the air. He was soaring over the crowd of Narutos and there was no way he wouldn't land amongst them, the only thing was, he wouldn't be landing alone.

Taking this opportunity, Kakashi brought his hand together and created five clones. Well, he had meant to make more, but had been distracted by having to keep himself from landing right on top of one of the Narutos. On the plus side, though, there were ten other Kakashis helping him now. They wouldn't, of course, last very long, but it would be nice to have them.

Getting several of them closer to him he had them fight while he used the spare moment to create more. He wasn't entirely sure how many he'd created this time as he'd been measuring by chakra usage, not wanting to run out. As the Kakashi clones began to overpower the Naruto clones the real Kakashi looked around closely to see if he could find a Naruto that wasn't disappearing in one hit. Where was it!

Looking around, Kakashi realized that there was one spot where the clones were more dense and there were also more coming from there. He must be creating more and more that way! Briefly creating a few more of his own clones, Kakashi went for the most direct path he could. Leaping straight in the air, he saw the one that was creating them, but before he had the chance to go after him, he was attacked by several other Naruto clones. It was hard to fight these because they were faster than Naruto normally was.

Deciding there was no way he could win just fighting them off, Kakashi ignored the clones and ran forward. Instead of destroying them, he just dodged their attacks and kept going. Jumping in the air he flung as many shuriken and kunai as he could at the original. Most were blocked, but one thudded into the real Naruto's arm. The boy grunted and looked up to see Kakashi landing next to him destroying the clones closest to him.

Naruto charged at Kakashi who got ready to fight back. They attacked each other with a ferocity almost equal of that before, though it was harder for both due to the large number of other surrounding them. Suddenly both fighters stopped. Looking around they realized that their clones were fighting each other and completely ignoring the real versions.

Kakashi smiled, eye curving up. "Clones are stupid," he said with a laugh, allowing all of his to suddenly disappear in large poofs of smoke.

Naruto sighed and allowed all of his to disappear too. Without warning he began attacking Kakashi, who had been expecting something of the sort. Before long, though, it became obvious that the blond-haired boy was tiring. Deciding now would be the best time, Kakashi attacked Naruto as hard as he could, as if his own life were on the line. A few minutes later Naruto skid to a stop in the dirt near Sasuke and Sakura.

((-))

AN: So, I hope that wasn't that bad. I really suck at writing fight scenes. Or at least, fight scenes lik what would be in Naruto. I've already got the next chapter written so I should be able to get it up soon.


	22. Chapter 22

Yay! Another update right away! I'm glad so many of you are all still reading this and reviewing.

Chapter 22

Kakashi didn't even realize he was panting from exertion until he got back to the center of the clearing; that had been really hard…way harder than he'd thought. The Uchiha kid was looking angrily at him before looking at Naruto. His face didn't seem like jealousy or anything liked that; he looked truly furious.

"What's wrong with you?" Kakashi asked him lazily, stretching.

"Fight me now," the other boy said quietly.

"Whatever you say," the white-haired teen replied lazily.

"I don't want a handicap," Sasuke growled at him angrily. "Fight me with everything."

"I'd rather not kill you." Kakashi knew what he was saying now didn't matter anyways. Whether the Uchiha knew it or not, Kakashi wouldn't be at full strength anyways; he had used up a lot of chakra in the fight against Naruto. He wasn't drained, of course, he would never risk that, but there was no way he'd fight at full strength.

A growl of rage escaped the other boy and he launched himself at Kakashi, sharingan eyes activated. Kakashi barely managed to block and was surprised at the speed and ferocity with which the attacks came. There was a strange look on the other boy's face and now he was determined to find out what it was.

Fine, if that was what he wanted. The second he got a chance, Kakashi lifted a hand up and quickly shifted his hitai-ate out of the way. Sharingan eye met the two sharingan of his opponent. Heh, fun.

As long as he was careful he could finish this match before the drain became too much. It would just have to be a short fight.

Kakashi was surprised at the boy's speed. It wasn't as hard as fighting Naruto had been, but Sasuke was better at blocking because his sharingan allowed him to see his attacks coming. So, this was a lot more fun than he thought it would be.

When the boy leapt back and got some distance, Kakashi wondered what he was planning. After all, that had to have been planned. When he finally got his answer, it shocked him immensely.

Facing him was his own technique; the chidori. Sasuke brought it up rather quickly and was now charging towards him at an amazingly fast pace. Kakashi wondered on his own ability to get out of the way. Hitting against him with his own chidori would only succeed in getting them both killed. He couldn't just stand here either.

Heh, he should have given the kid more credit. Diving forward, Kakashi lurched to the side with an extreme amount of effort. Pushing off the ground with his hands he slammed both feet into Sasuke's stomach just as he got there. The jounin collapsed to the ground as the dark-haired boy was launched into the air.

Sasuke's chidori faded while he was in the air and he only just managed to land on the ground with crashing.

"Who taught you that?" Kakashi asked him in annoyance, gasping for breath as he got to his feet. Once standing, he pulled his hitai-ate down.

"You did," Sasuke told him darkly, also getting to his feet. He was breathing just as heavily as Kakashi was.

"Heh," Kakashi smirked. "Nice job." He was about to say something else when an angry shout made him flinch.

"KAKASHI!"

Laughing nervously, Kakashi turned around to face both Tsunade and Jiraiya. Oh shit! They probably wouldn't be happy with what he'd just been doing.

After all, he was probably supposed to be more mature and responsible than to get Naruto to use the power of the Kyuubi and the Uchiha kid to use chidori against him.

Kakashi wobbled slightly as he and Sasuke began walking back towards the two sannin. Maybe he had used up too much chakra. He still wasn't that great at using the sharingan, not to mention all the chakra he'd used up before that. It had probably been the combination that was making him feel a bit weak. Well, he'd be fine soon anyways.

"Why is Naruto laying on the ground over there?" Tsunade asked.

"We were sparring."

"Is that all?"

"Yes."

"I know everything that goes on this village, Kakashi," Tsunade said, ignoring the jounin's 'Yeah, right.'

"And you, what are you doing here?" Kakashi asked Jiraiya. "I'm sure she didn't ask for your help."

Jiraiya began whistling and looking away causing the other sannin to glare at him. "You were already here when I got here Jiraiya. Why was that?"

Eye curving into a smile, Kakashi said cheerfully, "You were watching weren't you?"

"Of course not…" After a minute the man finally gave, "Well, I didn't actually come in until after you fought with Naruto. You were just starting to fight Sasuke when I noticed the four of you over here and came to watch."

"Kakashi, need I remind you of your rank?" Tsunade asked him. "I don't want this to happen without supervision again, alright?" Without even waiting for an answer, she left.

"What happened with Naruto?" Jiraiya asked once she was gone.

"Nothing."

Jiraiya looked towards Sasuke, before instantly realizing that that would be futile.

"I am hardly stupid Kakashi," Jiraiya finally said, seriousness coming to his face. "I sensed the chakra of the Kyuubi coming from here. You should be more cautious than to challenge something like that; you have no idea what could happen."

"Whatever," Kakashi said, turning away to face Sasuke instead.

"Don't ask as if you know what he can do. You don't remember anything."

Kakashi didn't even look at him. "I have nothing to be afraid of. And you're right, I know nothing about what he is right now, but I do know that my sensei was the one who sealed that thing up," the jounin's voice was filled with confidence, pride, admiration, and a little bit of indignation, "and nothing could break that. Sure, some of its power can leak out, but I know that thing won't break lose."

With a hmpf, Jiraiya disappeared.

Sasuke and Kakashi walked over to where Sakura sat with Naruto. The blond was looking almost as good as new, despite the fact that he was still unconscious.

"What'd they say?" Sakura asked nervously.

"Nothing important," Kakashi growled, sitting down with a huff.

"So…why are you so mad?"

"I'm not mad," Kakashi said, laying down on his back. He turned his visible eye towards Sasuke. "So, I taught you the chidori, huh? When?"

"Before the finals of the chuunin exam," Sasuke answered, sitting down next to him. The Uchiha seemed to be in a better mood, though the jounin didn't know why.

"Why did I teach you?" he asked lazily.

Sasuke went through and explained about Gaara and how they had trained for a month so that he could learn a move that might help.

Throughout the story, Kakashi's face grew sad. After a while he got to his feet and looked around as if lost. "Thanks for telling me, um…I'll talk to you guys later…" he didn't wait for their responses before he ran as fast as he could away.

He reached the monument in almost record time and collapsed down in front of it. All this stuff he'd done…it was…weird. It disturbed him hearing about everything he would do, yet, at the same time, had already done. Despite neglecting Naruto and never even meeting him, it sounded like he'd been an okay sensei. It made him wonder what his own sensei would think if he could ever meet them.

Kakashi hoped his sensei would have been proud to see his son taught by his student, he probably would have. It wasn't fair though. Sandaime had gotten to meet his students' students. And Jiraiya had gotten to meet Kakashi. Yet, Kakashi's sensei would never get to meet his students and they would never get to see who had taught their sensei.

Why did he always think of things like that! Why couldn't he get this sadness to go away? It seemed all he could think about was Yondaime and all the different things that would never happen now. This of course made him think of Obito and Rin as well. What would they have thought of him having students? Obito would have laughed; he always laughed.

Why did he have to be the only one left!

((-))

Looking up, I'm starting to think that that ending part was kind of random. ...oh well! Wow, this chapter was kind of long. Tell me what you thought!


	23. Chapter 23

I know, I know; it's been a long while since I updated. Sorry guys.

Chapter 23

That night Kakashi couldn't sleep again and he decided it was time to start looking through his house. After all, maybe he could find out more about his current self's life that no one had bothered to tell him. Plus he had a sinking suspicion that since it was more than ten years after he remembered, even more people he knew might be dead.

His search didn't result in much at first. He found two pictures in frames on the wardrobe and picked them up curiously. The white-haired ninja's eyes widened with recognition of the picture of he, Obito, Rin, and their sensei. Eyes clenched in pain, he slammed the picture face down on the wardrobe. Stupid picture! Why would he want to have a constant reminder of that around?

After a minute, he opened his eyes again and looked down at the other picture now in his hands. It was him, Kakashi realized with a bit of surprise. Quite a bit older, but definitely him. He was with Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura; it looked so much like the picture he had of his old team that he almost wanted to slam it down next the other one. For some reason he didn't do it and instead gently set it back in the position it had been in before.

Finally it hit him. He had kept all those old newsletter clippings from the deaths of Obito and Rin in a box along with anything else important he thought he might want to remember. Angry about his sensei's death, he hadn't yet added that clipping into the box in his time, though it probably was now. Maybe his current self still had the box; that would tell him what he needed to know.

Given something specific to look for he eventually found it under his bed and was momentarily surprised he hadn't looked there yet. His surprise was dismissed quickly at the realization that this was what he'd been looking for. Settling himself on his bed, Kakashi opened the box with resignation. He reached in and pulled out the top piece of paper.

From what he could tell it had been pulled from deeper in the box; it had an older date than the thing behind it. Scanning his single visible eye over it, the eye widened. Orochimaru had fled the village, becoming a missing-nin. Well, part of him wasn't surprised; it seemed to fit that snake. Kakashi had never liked him. He wondered, though, why he had needed to pull it out…

Deciding to figure it out later, the ninja dug deeper into the box. A lot of these people he didn't even know; he had probably met them after when he remembered. Their deaths didn't really bother him and he continued to pull papers and clippings out and settling them into a neat pile next to him. He removed another such clipping, not really paying attention when the headline underneath it blared out at him.

Nearly tearing it in the process, Kakashi ripped it out of the box. Beneath it was one with a similar headline. He snatched more and more out; this one had been repeated so many times that the letters burned in his mind: Uchiha Clan Massacred, Only One Survivor. Reading quickly, he found the name Itachi several times in every article. He remembered Itachi…how could something like that…?

Anger suddenly burned through his veins and he stood abruptly, knocking the box to the floor, spilling papers everywhere. Within the blink of an eye he was out of his house and sprinting as quickly as he could to the Hokage tower. Going at top speed, he was there within minutes and slammed through the front door. It was barely midnight and he guessed Tsunade would still be in her office even if she wasn't awake. Her door slammed open as he ran in and he found his guess to be correct.

"How many times have I told you I don't remember anything?!" he practically shouted, young voice going high at the end.

Her tired eyes widened in shock. "Kakashi, what is the matter?"

"When were any of you planning to tell me that the entire Uchiha clan is dead?" he shrieked, slamming the clipping he'd carried with him down onto her desk, unable to control himself in his distress. In truth he had never much cared for the clan, but this upset him more than he would have imagined. This was Obito's clan after all, and the one his eye had originated from. Despite his dislike of them, he felt a connection to the birth bearers of the sharingan.

"I'm sorry…it didn't occur to me…" she looked at him sadly. Those same eyes of pity that she seemed to constantly be turning on him now. Never had Tsunade looked at him like that before, but she did now.

With another shriek of rage, he left the office as swiftly as he had come. His destination the same as it often was; the stone dedicated to those who had died for the village. When he got there he knelt in front of it to get a better look. Earlier he hadn't been paying attention to any other names, but now that he looked he saw in one spot more than ten Uchiha names in a row. Why hadn't he seen it before?

Damn them! Why had they gone and died? They were supposed to always be there! Immovable jerks!

Where the hell had he been while this had happened? It had said that they were killed single-handedly by Itachi. Itachi had been a genius with the potential to surpass even him, but he never would have expected that of the small child. What had happened to Konoha?

Fury burning through him, Kakashi slammed a fist into the monument stone. It was something he had never done, no matter how upset, but now he did, over and over. Damn this stone! Again and again he hit it, wishing all the names written across its surface would just disappear. But they never did; they never would…

AN: Yeah this chapter was really emo-ish, then again...it is an emo-ish subject. (moment of silence for teh poor Uchihas) Anyways, this was kind of just something I wanted to have him find out and figured better be sooner than later :P


	24. Chapter 24

Hi all! This chapter is meant to be amusing after the depression of last chapter, although it doesn't get that way till about half-way through. Just the same, I hope you enjoy it. I am having major writer's block as to the actual plot of the story, so this will have to do for now.

Chapter 24

The morning after he found out about the Uchiha Clan Massacre, Kakashi woke up and found himself still laying in front of the monument, having fallen asleep there the night before. His entire body ached from sleeping on the hard rock in what had likely been an incredibly awkward position. Knuckles bleeding and clothes dirty he wearily headed back towards his house. Despite having fallen asleep he had gotten very little actual rest between the hard stone and his nightmares.

At least no one had found him laying there; that would have sucked. Once in his house he quickly rinsed off and bandaged his hands, wondering how hard he had could have been hitting that monument if even with the gloves his knuckles were horribly split. He'd have to get the gloves washed, much to his annoyance as this meant he'd have nothing to cover up the bandaging on his hands. Deciding that there really wasn't much he could do about his clothes, Kakashi headed back out.

Who should he spend time with now? Not Gai's team…not Asuma's team… He could hang out with his own team, but he really wasn't in the mood for it. Especially not when they would give him two constant reminders of how much he'd failed or…would fail as the case may be. That left Kurenai's team, but he didn't really want to go hang out with them either. All this left him with pretty much no options and he wondered briefly if he could go bother Jiraiya.

Maybe if he just wondered around reading his book eventually someone would come and bother him, after all, it had worked last time. At the same time he knew he couldn't really do that, he should really train. His fighting with Naruto and Sasuke had once again reminded the young Jounin that his body was greatly out of shape due to his lack of activity since Yondaime's death that had only been interrupted once he was training with these genin.

Deciding that training was the best option, being that he needed it so bad, Kakashi headed to the field where he'd fought Sasuke and Naruto. He was surprised there was no one there; he'd thought for sure one of the other teams would be there. Happy that, for once, at least something had gone right, he began stretching out. It was something he rarely did.

Leaping immediately out of a stretch he began a combination of kicks and punches. Using his imagination he pictured Neji in front of him and Lee to the side. Twisting to the side, he fought as if there were someone there. Suddenly an idea occurred to him and he created two shadow clones. He ought to thank Naruto; this was an incredibly useful Jutsu in small amounts.

"I'm working on my speed," he told the clones, though he knew they knew what he knew. For some reason it felt better doing it this way. "I've slowed down. I'm not going to stop until I beat myself in a race."

"I can just slow down the clones when I get tired, though," the clone on the right said sadly, though.

"Of course, I could just keep them always moving as fast as possible and see if I can still win," said the one on the left.

The jounin's sense of humor couldn't resist this new definition of talking to oneself. "Alright guys, ready, set, go!" All three Kakashi's took off, sprinting around the large field as fast as they could go.

It didn't take a ton of concentration to run, so the white-haired ninja put his attention into making one of the clones go as fast as he could possible make it go. When it began running far faster than his own speed, Kakashi grew angry and sped up.

This continued on for a while. Getting rid of one of the clones, he focused solely on catching up to the first. Yet, no matter how hard he pushed himself, he could not seem to work up to that speed. Eventually the clone was half way around the field ahead of him and Kakashi grew angry. Putting as much concentration into his body as he could without losing track of the clone, he forced himself to move as fast as he could.

_You can't even beat yourself in a race!_ his inner voice yelled furiously. Anger with himself coursed through him and even as he felt himself growing more tired, he refused to give up. That clone was obviously going as fast as his own body was capable of going at the moment and yet he couldn't go that fast. All that meant was that he wasn't pushing himself hard enough. Well, he wasn't excepting that!

It was a good thing the forehead protector also prevented sweat from dripping into his eye or he'd have been in trouble. Kakashi wasn't sure how long he'd been running, but he was sure it must have been several hours. He'd finally caught up to within ten feet of the clone, but could hardly keep moving. Managing to maintain that speed was hard, but pushing himself to go faster wasn't something he could wrap his mind around.

Finally he collapsed to the ground, landing fast first in the dirt. It was then he realized that he was in a ditch several feet deep. Using the last of his energy to lift his head out, he saw that it circled around the field along the path he and the clone had been running. Making the clone come over, he had it pull him out of the ditch and lay there panting, while it stood over him, doing the same.

Glancing around the circle he was both surprised and annoyed to see he had an audience. Gai and his team, along with Jiraiya, Naruto, and Sasuke were walking towards him, obviously having been watching for a while.

Most of the students looked amazed, while Gai looked his usual enthusiastic self and Jiraiya was just shaking his head.

"That was so cool!" Lee exclaimed, once they were all next to him.

"So, were you trying to have you and your clone dig a mote or something?" Naruto asked curiously, looking around at the large ring.

"Way to go," Neji's voice was sarcastic. "You beat your own clone in a race."

Glaring up at them, Kakashi growled, "I'm the real one. I lost."

"You spent five hours racing yourself and you didn't manage to win?" Sasuke asked in shock.

"Leave me alone."

Gai and Jiraiya seemed to find this especially funny and were both cracking up.

"I wasn't going to make it slow down!" Kakashi exclaimed defensively. "That wouldn't have done me any good. I wanted a challenge." When this only made them all laugh, he shouted, "Well, why don't you all race my clone? He's obviously very fast."

"He's better than you," Neji said with amusement.

Kakashi would have hurt them all if not for the fact that he was dead tired. As it was, he only just managed to get his clone to lift him to his feet so he didn't look quite as stupid.

"I bet my clone can beat you in a race, even with me being this tired," he said, his challenge directed more at the students, since he knew both Jiraiya and Gai could beat him in speed easily.

"Bring it on!" shouted Naruto.

"I would love to race your clone self, Kakashi!" Lee declared.

Neji and Sasuke smirked, which seemed to be their form of the word yes and Tenten nodded.

"My clone will kick your buts," Kakashi informed them. His statement was not as cool as he wanted it to be, however, because as soon as he had his clone let go of him, he collapsed.

"Alright, I'll call the start!" Gai announced. The five students and Kakashi's clone lined up. "On you mark, get set, GO!"


	25. Chapter 25

I think the only thing more shocking than the fact that I suddenly got into Naruto again is the fact that I updated this story. I would also like to let you know that this fic definitely wins the prize for most reviews after I stopped updating it than any other fic. I'm really glad to know that people like this fic so much. I've got quite a few ideas on which direction I want to take the story now so we'll just have to hope that I can get a decent amount of that done. Once again thank you to all my reviewers, I really do love you guys. Thanks for sticking with me.

Chapter 25

Kakashi sat back against a tree, getting his energy back while he, Gai, and Jiraiya watched the race. It took quite a bit of concentration for Kakashi to keep the clone moving at the pace he wanted, since he was getting pretty tired already. He found it interesting that he had been able to make the clone faster than himself, but it made sense, he thought. The clone should be almost the same as him physically, only it didn't feel any pain and wouldn't disappear as long as he made sure to pay attention to it.

"Was I really running around there for five hours?" he asked absentmindedly.

"I don't think so," Jiraiya answered. "You were here for at least a couple though. Why did you think this was the best way to train?"

The white-haired ninja shrugged. "It seemed like fun. I'm really out-of-shape," he admitted. "It's been two weeks… Well, I haven't done any physical activity at all. I haven't eaten much either."

"You probably haven't slept at all, I'm sure," Jiraiya added, glancing at him suspiciously.

"Only a little," came the sheepish response.

Suddenly Gai shouted, "Look! Look! Lee's catching up!" Indeed he was. At the start of the race the clone had managed to get ahead and after that none of them had been able to quite catch up. Lee was now coming the closest, with Neji just behind him. Sasuke and Naruto seemed absolutely determined to at least beat each other, even if they couldn't beat the others. Tenten had managed to stay almost with the group for a while, but after being lapped the first time seemed to have given up actually winning. Instead she was practicing throwing her weapons as she ran. Select trees in the area were absolutely covering in various sharp objects.

The three on the sidelines were watching the group closely when Lee just stopped running. Reaching down to his ankles, he slid off what, Kakashi realized with shock, were weights. Despite the distance he'd lost doing that, Lee quickly caught up to and passed Neji. Kakashi's eyes narrowed as Lee started catching up to his clone. When Lee came even with his clone, the young jounin did his best to push it forward, now completely focused on the race.

"You can do it! Go Lee!" Gai shouted, waving his arms enthusiastically.

"Thanks," Kakashi murmured.

The others were forced to stop and get out of the way as the two were making it almost impossible for them to stay on the path they'd been running. They came over and sat down, all tired from the time they'd been out there.

"I think Lee will win," Naruto declared, watching with excitement.

"Lee will get tired eventually," Sasuke argued. "Kakashi can just keep going."

"Kakashi is already tired," Neji informed them. "His clone was running faster when we were watching him against himself. There are limits to how much it can do."

"Exactly when does the race even end?" Tenten asked.

"Probably when Lee either comes ahead or gives up," Sasuke answered.

"That means that if Lee doesn't win, we're going to be here forever," Neji sighed.

"Lee you're almost there, you can do it!" Naruto shouted. He and Gai were now jumping up and down, cheering. Neji seemed to have reached his socializing-quota as he closed his eyes and rested his head on his knees, apparently trying to block out the presence of the two.

Naruto and Gai let out an even louder cheer as Lee pulled ahead of the clone. Once the other teen was a good several feet ahead, Kakashi let his clone disappear in a sad poof of smoke that made it look like he'd barely been hanging on to it.

After picking his weights up, Lee walked over and sat down to put them back on. "That was great!" he exclaimed. "It is especially fun to race someone so even in speed when you know that you can win if you just keep trying."

"What exactly have you been feeding this kid?" Kakashi demanded of Gai, waving a hand at Lee. This caused the man to grin at him cheerily, without actually giving a response.

"So, now what?" Naruto asked.

At this Gai's grin grew. "Well, my team has not officially started training for the day. Which means we have a lot of work to do! Come on now, get up!" Neji and Tenten glared at Gai, but did as he said and got to their feet. Lee was already bouncing around, despite the fact that he was once again wearing his weights.

"I feel so ready to go after such a great warm-up!" he shouted.

"Actually, I came here for Kakashi," Jiraiya announced. He had been pretty quiet for a while, something the white-haired teen had noticed, but chosen not to comment on.

"Awe, you guys are all leaving me alone with Sasuke," Naruto complained, though not with his usual whining tone.

"Of course not! You're going to train with us!" Gai declared. At this, Sasuke immediately smacked Naruto over the head. It was too late for the two to back out of it, though, as Gai would not stop until the two agreed to train with his team for the day.

Kakashi and Jiraiya chose to make their escape at this point, not wanting to get caught up in Gai's insanity and the chaos that would surely ensue. Once they were a safe distance away, the much smaller ninja spoke up, "So why did you need me?"

"Is it a crime for me to want to spend time with you?" Jiraiya asked innocently.

"Quite possibly. But that's not what you want to do. I think you want to check up on me," Kakashi informed him. "I don't need checking up on."

"Now we both know that's not true," the Sannin responded. "Don't you think racing yourself until you drop is a little self-destructive?"

The young jounin sighed. "It wasn't supposed to be when I planned it. I just feel so out-of-shape. I really hadn't moved for two weeks…"

"I remember."

They walked together quietly for a while before Kakashi broke the silence again. "So why did you want to see me?"

"Actually, Tsunade asked me to find you. She has some free time today and together some of the best doctors in the village. They get to poke and prod at you to see if they can find out what's wrong," the old man told him cheerfully.

Kakashi's face fell and turned to one of horror. "I hate doctors," he growled.

"Well, you'll listen to what they say anyways. They were able to examine you a little when this first happens, but Tsunade thinks it'll be good to take another look now that you've been completely conscious in this state for a little while," Jiraiya explained.

"You're just saying that so I don't run away," the teen grumbled.

As it turned out, Kakashi only tried to sneak away once before Jiraiya caught him immediately. While he didn't try it again, he certainly made his displeasure known until they arrived at the hospital. Kakashi was led in and he found himself face-to-face with the Hokage. She smirked at the look of misery on his face.

"Don't look like you're about to die, Kakashi. It won't be so bad," she informed him. Something about the way she said it made him doubt her very much.

"I highly doubt that," he muttered.

"Well, I hope you have fun Kakashi. I'll see you later," Jiraiya told him quickly, abandoning him there before the teen had a chance to stop him. Grimacing, Kakashi turned to face Tsunade and whatever tortures she and these doctors had come up with.

The examinations turned out to be every bit as bad as he had imagined they would be. Everything about him had been examined, from his physical well-being, to his chakra flow, to his brain. Half the time he was meant to just sit there and stay as still as possible while he was examined in very uncomfortable ways. The other half involved him moving around a lot and showing that he didn't seem to lack any function as a result of the change.

Threatening the doctors along the way also hadn't helped, much to his disappointment. He told himself that it probably would have, if not for the fact that Tsunade was the main doctor here forcing him to do stuff. She had been very much used to his threats in his own time, so she certainly didn't listen to him in this time.

One thing Kakashi realized while they were doing all that was that, up until now, he hadn't even realized considered getting changed back. He had been so caught up with what was going on that he didn't think to actually change it. If he could regain his memories that would be great. After all, his older self definitely did seem to be a much happier person. All he could hope was that they would be able to figure something out.


	26. Chapter 26

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. I'm glad that there are people who are still interested in this fic.

Chapter 26

By the time Kakashi was able to escape the clutches of Tsunade and her gang of doctors it was nearly nightfall. He couldn't even say that he was happy that he'd done it. The Hokage had informed him that it would take them at least a day, probably far more, to be able to analyze everything. Whatever had happened to him was something no one had ever seen before. From what the white-haired ninja had gathered, there were absolutely no signs that anything at all unusual had happened to him. Because of this, Tsunade wasn't even sure if they would be able to find anything from all the tests they did. She assured him that there had to be some signs within his body or chakra; it would just take them a while to find them.

Until then, he was to continue on as he had been. So, all-in-all, Kakashi considered the day to have been completely wasted after the morning. Well, at least he had managed to avoid spending more time with Gai. Although, it was getting hard for him to deny that he didn't really mind the other's company that much.

_Speaking of spending the day with Gai's team_, Kakashi thought as he spotted Sasuke walking down a nearby street. He looked tired, though he had obviously had time to clean up after whatever torture Gai had put him and Naruto through. Shouldn't the Uchiha have lived in the Uchiha complex on the other side of the village? _Would you want to live there?_ The jounin asked himself. That did remind him of something he had wanted to do, though. Taking the opportunity, he quickly chased after Sasuke, but stayed hidden until they arrived at a small apartment complex where the geninmust have lived.

He was about to reveal himself when Sasuke called out, "I know you're there. You could at least do a better job of hiding yourself if you're going to follow me."

Kakashi shrugged as he approached the Uchiha in the open. "I was just about to let you know I was there. I was wondering if we could talk…" Sasuke looked for a second like he wanted to say no, but eventually nodded. "Great, can we talk on the roof?" Kakashi asked, eye curving in a bright smile.

"So, why did you want to talk on the roof?" Sasuke asked once they were up there.

"It just relaxes me," Kakashi answered. "I like to be able to see the sky. I've never really felt that comfortable indoors." Sasuke nodded and leaned back to look up at the sky with him. Kakashi noted that it was a clear note, making it much easier to see the stars. It was a nice distraction.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" the Uchiha asked.

The white haired jounin grimaced, mentally reminding himself why he had wanted to talk about this so bad. "I was looking through my apartment the other day. I found some old newspaper clippings. I just…I wanted you to know how sorry I am about your clan," he managed to say. He felt stupid now that he was actually voicing these thoughts and knew he should have planned what he would say a little better.

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly and he stared at Kakashi for a while before directing his attention back up at the stars. "It's been a long time since anyone's said that to me," he told Kakashi quietly. "I almost think they forgot sometimes…"

"I don't think I ever would. Even if I've never said it to you," Kakashi said sincerely.

"You have, actually," Sasuke told him, surprising the jounin. "We spent a lot of time training together when you were teaching me the chidori and preparing me for the chuunin exam. One night we talked about it."

For the first time since this whole thing began, Kakashi felt like maybe he hadn't screwed up as much as he thought he had. At least he had tried to teach Sasuke, though he wondered at how long it had taken his adult self to get around to it. It had hurt to think that his adult self had completely forgotten about everyone he owed something to. Though, he still didn't forgive himself for ignoring Naruto for the boy's whole life, but that was something he didn't want to think too deeply about just yet.

"Why were you so angry at Naruto before?" he asked curiously.

"I don't want to talk about it," Sasuke snapped instantly.

Surprised and not at all willing to push the issue, Kakashi nodded. They sat together, enjoying the night for a while longer before the white-haired ninja eventually got to his feet. "Well, I should probably try and sleep tonight or Jiraiya will get really pissed. If there's anything you need, let me know. I can't be your teacher right now, but…" he shrugged.

Sasuke looked him over, obviously measuring him up before nodding once. "I will. And thanks."

"No problem," with that Kakashi hopped off the roof and started on the way to his own home. It actually wasn't too far away from Sasuke's, which was nice. He made it without getting lost, which wasn't actually as difficult as he liked to make people leave.

The teen barely managed to take his jounin jacket off before collapsing onto his bed. It had been a long day. In fact, it was hard to even imagine that only that same morning he had created a clone to race against. Although, all he had to do was try and lift one of his legs to remember just how much running he had done. The exhaustion kicked in fast and soon Kakashi was asleep. It had been a long time since he had fallen asleep as soon as he laid down; it had been even longer since he slept without nightmares.

((-))

For the first time waking up in his adult self's apartment, Kakashi felt rested and ready-to-go. Getting dressed into new clothes quickly, he ate breakfast as fast as he could. All that was left was to decide what to do for the day. He was interested in spending more time with Naruto and Sasuke, though he was getting the feeling that it would be a good idea to spend time with them separately. If he went to search for one of them now, it would be impossible to avoid seeing them together, so he should probably wait until later in the day to do that. He still needed to get revenge on that Shikamaru person, but that was an activity better saved for when he wasn't so bursting with energy.

Well, if there was one person synonymous with the phrase "bursting with energy" then it would be Gai. Suddenly getting an idea, Kakashi darted out of the house. He was happy to see that the sun was up, meaning that Team Gai would already be training. It also meant that they hadn't come to wake him up. He was hoping they had given up on doing so every day and this might be a sign that they had.

When he arrived at the team's training area, he saw in the middle of the field a large whirlwind of chakra with a large amount of sharp objects being hurled toward it. He realized that this was Neji and Lee was doing his own exercises off to the side. Curiosity grabbed hold of him for a second as he watched the Hyuuga. Perhaps he should take the chance to spar Neji again some time and watch his style. He looked far better than any of the other Hyuuga the jounin had been given the chance to see.

Turning back from his momentary distraction, he spotted Gai and pointed at him dramatically. "Gai!" he shouted, hoping to surprise them all at the enthusiasm they would surely feel was out-of-character. "I challenge you to a rematch! This time I'll win!" he declared.

Alright, this behavior was totally out-of-character for him. In fact, it made him cringe a little inside. He wouldn't deny that he was trying to channel Obito in getting the inflection and excitement just right. Still, it was definitely fun seeing the looks of surprise on their faces.

Having apparently gotten over his shock, Gai leapt up, looking more excited than Kakashi had seen him in a long time (and that was saying something). "Kakashi, my eternal rival! I accept your challenge! When do you want to fight?"

"Right now!"


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

"Ready?" Neji asked, standing between the two combatants. Gai had demanded that they had some sort of referee, though Kakashi couldn't help but wonder why that person had to be Neji. Certainly Lee would have been far happier to do the job. "Alright. Fight." Kakashi saw a blur of grey as Neji darted back over to where Lee and Tenten were sitting to watch. He couldn't blame him; it would definitely be dangerous to wait too close to this match.

Watching Gai closely, Kakashi ran through a quick list of options in his head while he had the time. This would likely be his only chance to think, since once Gai started fighting, there'd be no chance to. The older jounin would absolutely beat him in Taijutsu; there was no doubt about that. Would any of his other jutsus be worth it though? Maybe.

At this point, Gai seemed to think Kakashi had had enough time and suddenly charged him. If the teen hadn't been expecting something like that, he probably would have been a bit surprised. He quickly ducked under the punch thrown at him and was forced to avoid a kick immediately after. The Green Beast was quick and Kakashi was trying to use his much smaller size to his advantage with limited success. It certainly made dodging easier since he was such a small target, but his range was far shorter than the more experienced fighter's.

Getting an idea, Kakashi allowed himself to get hit by what had been meant to be a feint. It was a relatively weak hit compared the rest, but it was enough to throw him back. Taking advantage from the distance separating them, Kakashi quickly created several shadow clones. While they distracted Gai, Kakashi began making hand signs in quick succession, already planning out his next couple moves.

Just as the last clone disappeared, the white-haired jounin let loose a very large fireball that went straight for Gai. Spotting it in time, the older man leapt out of the way. Kakashi was on him in an instant, kicking and punching like a small whirlwind. He managed to land several hits before being surprised when Gai grabbed him and threw him across the field. Landing with a pained grunt, Kakashi reminded himself to be a little bit more careful. Getting to his feet, he watched his opponent closely, ready for another swift attack like the last one.

"Well, you're certainly thinking with your head this time, Kakashi," Gai remarked, looking just as happy as ever.

"That's because this time, I'm going to win," Kakashi informed him.

"Is that so?"

Giving a quick nod, Kakashi smirked and brought his hands together. Forming the symbols he created more shadow clones. With them, he ran at Gai. Fast he was, even the Green Beast was put on the defensive against so many Kakashis. When one of his clones was destroyed, Kakashi took a second to jump back, create several more and jump right in again. He did this every time one or two of his clones was destroyed until it seemed almost like a pattern.

Once it became apparent that Gai expected him to make more, he changed the hand symbols he was making. His shadow shot away from his body and towards the unsuspecting Gai. At the last second the man seemed to catch on. Jumping in the air he performed a spinning kick and managed to destroy all of the clones surrounding him. Kakashi barely had the chance to realize what was happening when Gai dodged the shadow and kicked him squarely in the chest.

Flung backwards, Kakashi landed in the dirt, sending dust flying up everywhere. Ignoring the intense pain in his chest and his sudden difficulty with breathing, the jounin took advantage of the lack of visibility to disappear into the ground. He couldn't deny that earth jutsus were definitely some of his favorites. Coming up underneath Gai, who seemed to be waiting for him, Kakashi grabbed the larger fighter and pulled him under the ground. Once aboveground, Kakashi collapsed next to Gai, who had been buried up to his neck.

The white-haired ninja laid there for several minutes, panting and trying to catch his breath. After a while, he looked over at Gai, who was still trapped. "Aren't you going to break out?" he asked curiously.

"I figured I'd give you a chance to rest. If I got out right away, you would have immediately gone back on the defensive," Gai told him with a cheesy grin. Shortly after saying this, there was a small burst of dirt and rocks at the man launched himself out of the ground.

Kakashi looked up at him from where he was still sitting on the ground. Even he had to admit now that he was running out of ideas. It wasn't like he had run out of jutsus, since he knew plenty more. The problem was getting any one of those random jutsus to work, which he was beginning to see would be nearly impossible. Gai always seemed to know exactly what Kakashi was doing and even when he was caught off guard, he picked up on whatever plan the white-haired ninja had right away.

Getting to his feet, Kakashi faced off against his opponent again. There had to be some way. Wracking his brain, he tried to bring every skill he knew to the forefront, hoping that there would be something he could use that would work.

((-))

It was quite some time later when Kakashi found himself pinned to the ground and unable to move. He had been fighting against Gai for some time now, managing to keep up very well for the most part. Eventually he had started to tire, though, both from the fighting and his continued use of chakra in an attempt to gain the upper hand. Sensing his exhaustion, the teacher had taken advantage of it and finally managed to trap the young jounin to the ground.

"If I weren't so small, this wouldn't be so easy," Kakashi grumbled. He squirmed in an attempt to get away, but the effort was futile. Every small move he made told him that there was absolutely no way he would be able to escape.

"Making excuses Kakashi? Now that's not like my rival!" Gai chastised.

"I'm not making excuses! I'm just telling you!" Kakashi exclaimed. "And how long were you holding back on me for? Even when I tried harder, you were equally difficult to fight."

"Kakashi, I'm not going to fight you at full strength," the man informed him with a laugh. "Your adult self and I are nearly equal in strength, there was no way you could hope to compete. However, you could still learn from it. That's the most thinking I've seen you do since the first time you fought me."

"Yeah, I guess," the white-haired ninja muttered. "So, are you going to let me up now, or what?"

"Well, I'll have to be announced the winner," Gai informed him cheerily. Looking over to Neji who, so far, had not done anything, he coughed meaningfully. Seeming to get the hint, the Hyuuga approached.

"Gai wins," Neji announced with little enthusiasm. In direct contrast to his teammate's attitude, Lee leapt into the air with a loud cheer.

After a brief analysis of the fight with his team, Gai had the three resume their training while he and Kakashi stood off to the side. "You're doing a much better job at controlling your anger," the man remarked.

Kakashi looked away, embarrassed. "I don't try to get so angry," he muttered.

"I know."

"Do I get better at controlling it when I get older?" Kakashi asked eventually finally looking up at Gai.

The older jounin smiled. "I've seen you get angry more times in these past few days than I've seen in the past decade. As an adult, everything seems to brush off you." Kakashi nodded at this, feeling relieved. "You know, it's alright to feel angry, Kakashi," Gai informed him. "But you cannot let it control you. You should never act on it."

"Yeah." Kakashi sighed. "I'm gonna go for a walk. I'll see you later," he said, giving a short wave before departing the training field. For the most part, he still felt a lot better than he had in a while, but that didn't mean he felt good. He just felt okay.

Since he hadn't been yet that day, he decided to make a trip over to the monument. After whispering briefly to his fallen comrades he sat back and pulled out his book to read. Even if he wasn't trying to talk to them, he still felt closer to his friends when he was in this spot and it was nice to be able to relax and still be with them as best he could.

Some time passed with him just sitting there reading until his stomach alerted him to the fact that it must be past midday and he hadn't eaten yet. Normally he could go with only eating two meals in a day, but after all his exertions that morning, he was actually pretty hungry. He was just about to put his book away when he spotted a familiar yellow and orange figure approaching him.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto greeted him happily. "I thought you might be here."

"You can just call me Kakashi, Naruto," the white-haired ninja informed him, slipping his book into a pocket. "I was just about to go get something to eat. What's up?"

"Ooh, food sounds good!" Naruto declared excitedly. "Where were you going? Can I come?"

Kakashi tilted his head, examining the other boy curiously. Single visible eye curving in a smile, he nodded. "Sure."

((-))

AN: I know that seems a little anticlimactic (or at least it did to me), but don't worry. Kakashi hasn't managed to beat Gai yet, and he certainly isn't going to give up on that idea any time soon. If anyone's getting a bit tired of the large number of fighting chapters, then rest assured that the next bunch should be rather light on it. I'm going to start focusing a bit more on character relations, so there shouldn't be as much fighting.

As always, if there's anything you'd like to see happen in the fic, feel free to let me know. I can't promise anything, but I'm willing to consider any ideas people have.


	28. Chapter 28

Here's the next chapter guys, hope you enjoy. If anyone could give me some feedback on some of this, I would like it. I'm going to try and keep workin gon this for as long as I can and I'm still not sure how the writing's working out, so any advice would be great. Also, if there's anything you'd like to see in the story, let me know.

Chapter 28

Kakashi and Naruto found themselves sitting together at Naruto's favorite ramen shop, ready to order. The white-haired jounin watched his companion curiously. Spending time with Obito and his Sensei, he had always thought them to be the most energetic people he'd ever met. Yet Naruto nearly put them to shame. It was like someone had taken Obito, made him look like a young Yondaime and fed him an endless amount of sugar.

He knew the blond was capable of being serious; he'd seen that first-hand the last time they had talked. It was nice to know that the other boy had managed to maintain a positive outlook on life even growing up with no parents and the Kyuubi inside him. Admittedly, Kakashi wanted to know how he had been able to stay so cheery. He knew it would be stupid to ask though. Perhaps Naruto was just Naruto and this was how he was.

"Um, why are you looking at me all serious and thinking?" Naruto asked him.

The jounin blinked in surprise, having thought that he was being a bit more subtle than that. "Oh, sorry. I was wondering…you said you had been looking for me earlier. Was there something you had wanted?"

"Just this, actually," admitted the blond. "I was wondering if you could tell me more about…about Yondaime." Naruto frowned and looked away. "I mean, I know you're really sad and everything, so you don't have to. It just that…I've never really had anyone talk to me about him before. Not about anything."

Kakashi's first thought was to refuse. The idea of speaking about his sensei was a very painful and not at all desirable one. And yet, how could he possibly say no when Naruto had asked him like that? His memories of Yondaime were important to him, but why should they be his alone? If there was someone else who wanted to hear of them, then who was he to deny them?

The young jounin was spared having to answer right away as they were given the chance to order their food. Once that was taken care of, he knew he had to make his decision. Finally he nodded. "Yeah, I can tell you anything you want. Was there anything in particular you wanted to know?"

"I don't know. Anything. What was he like as a teacher? Did he ever do any crazy stuff? What were he and Jiraiya like?" Naruto listed off several questions, ending them all with a shrug. He looked so happy just to hear anything that Kakashi had to say.

Naruto's mention of Jiraiya gave Kakashi an idea and brought back to him a memory that he was particularly fond of. As their food arrived, the jounin told Naruto of the time that Jiraiya had come by to 'help' his sensei train the team. Just as one would imagine, it hadn't gone all that well. Naruto couldn't help but laugh as Kakashi told the story and even the white-haired ninja found himself laughing a little bit at the memory. He'd forgotten what it was like to genuinely relax and laugh with someone and it was nice.

As the afternoon wore on, Kakashi reliving quite a few of the happier moments in his past while describing the events to Naruto. He even found himself talking about Obito a little, which the other boy didn't seem to mind.

Every once in a while Kakashi would feel tears threaten as he remembered that he would never get to have happy moments like that again. Each time he thought he would lose himself in despair and have to stop, Naruto's bright smile and eagerness to listen brought him back. Because of this, Kakashi forced himself to continue. This was the first time he'd remembered his fallen comrades in such a happy way, not to mention that the blond he was talking to very much enjoyed listening to him. And so, he couldn't stop talking. If he needed to have a breakdown, it would happen later, in his apartment and by himself. For now, he just needed to keep going and everything would continue to be alright.

"Thanks for spending so much time with me Kakashi," Naruto said once they had realized that it was starting to get late and they should each head home. "It means a lot to me."

"I know. It means a lot to me too. It's nice having someone to talk to," Kakashi admitted. "I'd forgotten that I could remember them without being having to be sad. Next time you're available, we can do this again if you want," he offered.

"Yeah, I'd really like that."

Just as Naruto was about to leave, Kakashi remembered something else he had wanted to talk to the blond about. "Hey, Naruto, I wanted to ask you about Sasuke."

Naruto looked away with a frown. "Sasuke and I haven't been getting along very well lately. He's got some issues that he needs to work out and I guess I'm just tired of dealing with his attitude. He-he'll come around though. He just needs time." Once again, Kakashi found himself surprised at the other ninja's unfailing optimism. "If you want to ask him about it, though, you have to whack him around a little first," the genin informed him with a bit of a smile. "At least, that's what older-you usually has to do."

"Thanks, I'll give it a try," Kakashi replied with a bit of a smirk.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, maybe," Naruto said, smiling much more brightly now.

"Tomorrow," the white-haired jounin said with a nod.

They parted ways and Kakashi couldn't help feeling more at-ease than he had in a while. He made it to his apartment, still maintaining his good mood. When he entered, he suddenly remembered that he had never gotten the chance to fully explore his apartment. The first time he had been distracted by his discovery of the Icha Icha books and the second time by his discovery of what had befallen the Uchiha clan. This time, Kakashi was determined to at least look through everything before examining whatever interesting objects he found.

He decided to start in the living room since that seemed to be the least personal out of all of them. There was a couch and quite a few bookshelves, one of which being where he had discovered all the books that he had so come to love. Looking through the other books wasn't really all that interesting to him, though and there wasn't all that much else in the living room other than a table and a lamp or two. Kakashi and the kitchen were already well acquainted, so there was no point in going through there.

"Wow, I'm a really boring person," Kakashi realized with amusement. It didn't surprise him too much. Even the home he remembered having in his own time was pretty plain, containing only the essentials.

Making his way into the bedroom, he had to admit that the room was rather large. It looked as if it had originally been meant to be two rooms which had been combined into one. The closet was large, containing many of the same exact shirt and pants, along with several vests. He wore a similar outfit now, only much smaller. The clothes were very different from what he had worn before, but he couldn't deny that these didn't feel too bad and he was beginning to like them quite a lot.

There was a wardrobe in the room as well, which his older self had obviously converted for use as weapon-storage. That was something that he had looked in already, though, having discovered it to contain any number of kunai, shuriken, and various other sharp objects and holsters to keep them in.

Deciding to explore the clothes-closet more closely, Kakashi began pushing things aside, trying to see if there was anything else of interest inside. Eventually he found a long, rectangular box, which he pulled out curiously. Sitting on the bed with it, he opened it to find that it contained a very familiar short sword. It looked older than he remembered and was certainly dulled from use, but there was no denying that it was his.

The box it had been in dropped to the floor as Kakashi clutched his sword to his chest. Tears that he had been holding in for most of the day finally broke through as he thought of all that he had lost. Not just his Sensei's guidance, not just Obito's humor, not just Rin's mothering… He had lost their smiles. He held onto every memory of them he had and the tears fell because he knew that he would no longer be able to create any more.

Holding the sword tightly, he allowed himself to feel sad for them, not just pain at their loss and not just anger that they were gone. Kakashi just felt sad for them. They had been remarkable people and he knew he would never be able to live up to their memory, but he would die trying if that was what it took.


	29. Chapter 29

Thanks again for all the reviews guys. I'm really happy people are still reading this, even though I abandoned it for so long. I can't promise that I'll manage to finish it this time around, but I'm doing my best to get as much done as I can. So thanks for sticking with me.

Chapter 29

The first thing Kakashi did the morning after finding his old short sword was take it to a weapon's shinobi and have it sharpened. Its blade was weak in more ways than one, but Kakashi refused to replace it. He would have his old sword or none at all. It took a little while, but the man convinced him that it should work as good as new and if he found the blade going dull again, then he should bring it back to be fixed. The teen also obtained strap that would hold the sword to his lower back, as he once had.

Happy that he would once again be able to use his old weapon, Kakashi set out to find Sasuke. His talk with Naruto and their agreement to meet up again had convinced him that maybe spending a consistent amount of time with these two was something he wanted. Perhaps Sasuke would want to train with him.

It actually took a little bit of asking around and running to different places before the white-haired ninja finally found the Uchiha. Apparently, since Naruto and Sasuke were avoiding each other, Sasuke had started going to a different training area than the one their team would normally use. Kakashi was happy to note that their usual training area was very close to the memorial and was glad that his adult self had at least not forgotten about that.

When he finally found Sasuke, the younger ninja was using his Chidori on a tree that no longer existed by the time Kakashi was all the way at the clearing.

"It's a little bit hard to practice when you don't have a moving target," he remarked, clearly amused.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, breathing heavily.

"Well, I figured if you are going to use my move, even if it wasn't this version of me who taught it to you, I should at least help make sure you get it right," Kakashi informed him with a shrug. "I'd offer to help you with the sharingan as well, but I'm probably not much better at using it than you are right now."

"Why would you want to help me train?" the question came out harshly. "I thought you were training yourself or spending time with Naruto."

"Awe, don't be jealous. I don't think you're so bad. Anyways, Naruto can find other people to help him train if he wants, but you seem determined to spend your time alone. Like I said, I can help you with the Chidori."

Sasuke looked away and his resolve seemed to weaken. "Your adult self already taught me, what makes you think that there's any more that you can add?"

"I was just thinking that it looks like you're still mastering control of it, so I obviously hadn't gotten around to teaching the finer points. Either way, if you don't want to, we can just spar. Training is always better against another person," Kakashi informed him.

"Alright, let's spar," Sasuke said at last. Kakashi wondered if the Uchiha honestly didn't think there was anything more for the jounin to teach him or if he just didn't want to admit that there was. Either way, sparring was fine with him, so he guessed that it didn't really matter.

They each got into similar stances and squared off with one another. Sasuke made the first move and Kakashi couldn't say that he was very surprised; the Uchiha had looked somewhat eager for a fight. Instead of going all-out as he had been a lot lately, Kakashi tried to keep himself at his opponent's speed. In all honesty, he was pretty sure there wasn't a whole lot that he had to learn from Sasuke, but at least he could help the other.

There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between the two not to use any attacks that were too dangerous. Still, that didn't mean that Kakashi couldn't have fun with the more random jutsus in his arsenal. He had quite a few fun ones that he hadn't even bothered using on Gai, since he'd known they wouldn't really work. Making it a rule for himself, he decided never to use the same jutsu twice and see just how long he could go before he ran out of things to do and had to resort to just taijutsu.

For his part, Sasuke seemed to be keeping his cool rather well. Somewhere along the way he had activated his sharingan, but it from Kakashi would tell, it was just so that he could better see all the different jutsu that the white-haired ninja was using.

After a while, Kakashi did begin to run out of ideas. There were still more techniques that he could use, but now he was getting into the realm of the more dangerous ones and had run out of the weaker ones that he knew the Uchiha could defend against. An idea suddenly came to the young jounin that caused him to grin brightly underneath his mask. Making a couple random hand symbols, he slammed his hand into the ground and pulled out a fist sized rock. "Ninja art, rock throw jutsu!" he shouted, throwing it at Sasuke.

Sasuke dodged the rock, but seemed frozen to the spot as he stared at Kakashi in bewilderment. "That wasn't a jutsu," he said finally, apparently having decided that no, he wasn't crazy and that Kakashi had in fact just thrown a rock at him and called it a jutsu.

Kakashi's lone eye curved as he smiled cheerily. "Nope."

"Then why did you just do that?"

"To see the look on your face," the jounin informed him, trying not to laugh. He decided that that had definitely been worth it, even if he had looked a little bit silly. Sasuke looked so confused to see such antics from him, of all people.

The Uchiha scoffed and looked away.

"Let me tell you something, Sasuke," Kakashi said, bringing out his new 'teaching' voice. "Just because something's not a jutsu doesn't mean it can't be a danger to you. Also, you can put your chakra into just about anything. There is, in fact, a stone throwing jutsu, accept the stones are more like boulders and those tend to react very badly with the human body." Kakashi was happy to note that Sasuke actually seemed to be listening to him now. At least, it seemed like he was.

"Why do you have a sword now?" Sasuke asked after a moment.

"Fighting with a sword is actually my specialty. Konoha's been at war for most of the life that I can remember. Swords tend to make far better tools in battle than one's fists. My adult self doesn't use one, though, right?" Kakashi figured it would be a good thing to clarify that point, though he was pretty sure that he was right.

"No, he doesn't. I've never seen you use a weapon before other than kunai and shuriken."

"That interesting. I guess I can't really know why. Anyways, for now, it's comfortable to have it," Kakashi said with a nod. "Did you want to go back to sparring or should we call this a day?"

Sasuke appeared to be thinking for a moment before he eventually came to some sort of a decision. "I guess we're done sparring, but I was wondering if you could show me how to actually do some of those techniques you were using. It's one thing to see them with the sharingan, but I haven't used it enough to copy skills to really have it down yet," the younger ninja admitted.

"Sure. Nothing I used was particularly dangerous to an opponent, but if you get creative, I'm sure you could find a use for some of them."

Kakashi spent a while showing Sasuke some of the moves he knew before parting ways with the Uchiha. He had considered taking the chance to get some information from him, but thought it might be better to give that some time. After all, Naruto seemed pretty sure that Sasuke would eventually come around. Whatever it was that he was coming around to, Kakashi didn't know. Still, if he was going to find out, it would be better to let genin get to know him better first.

Since it was getting into the afternoon, Kakashi decided to find Naruto and continue the discussion they'd had the other day. He had remembered quite a few stories that he thought the blond might like to hear and was eager to tell them. Somehow Naruto seemed to have a calming effect on him, the same as the boy's father had. Kakashi couldn't help but wonder if it was hereditary or if it was just because Naruto reminded him so much of Yondaime. Either way, it would be nice to have someone to talk to.


	30. Chapter 30

Hey all! I'm glad people are still enjoying this story. I would also like to note that this is the sixth chapter I've updated in a month, which is awesome when one considers my two year hiatus and the year long one before that. Thanks again for sticking with me, here you go...

Chapter 30

Over the course of the next several days, Kakashi's life had begun to fall into a sort of pattern. He would wake up in the morning and meet up with Gai's team to train for a little while, often sparring with at least one or two of the other jounin's students. After a some time had passed he would leave them and find Sasuke to train with the Uchiha a bit. The white haired ninja would never say that these sessions really helped his own fighting all that much, but for some reason he felt happy to help Sasuke. The genin was relaxing around him more and Kakashi knew that soon he would have to find out what it was that was bothering Sasuke so much. For some reason Kakashi felt like he might be running out of time, though he didn't really know why. After he was done training with Sasuke, he'd meet up with Naruto and go somewhere to talk. He might have felt bad for not helping Naruto train too, but he soon learned that Jiraiya was training the blond. That was especially reassuring since Kakashi honestly had no idea how he would go about training someone such as Naruto.

At some point during his startlingly busy day, Kakashi would make the time to visit the memorial and spend time with his sensei, Rin, and Obito. There were times when he'd actually talk to them as if they were there, though he knew that that was a bit silly of him. Other times he would just sit and say nothing. Sometimes he'd even read one of his books while just relaxing in front of the monument.

Altogether, Kakashi was feeling alright. Part of him knew that this was because he was keeping his mind so busy. He had a feeling that without so many different things to focus his mind on, he might just fall apart. There were times when he would have to just seclude himself from people and have a momentary breakdown. Even now, the nightmares still persisted, though not as bad as before.

Today, Kakashi had had to excuse himself from training with Sasuke, since Tsunade had finally called him to talk about all those tests she and the other med-nin had performed on him. For his part, he hoped desperately that she wouldn't have to perform any more tests. He also had to remind himself that what he should be hoping for was that they had found a way to turn him back. If he were honest with himself, though, Kakashi was pretty sure that there was no way they could have found something that fast. Still, it would be good to know what they had found out, if anything, so he met Tsunade in her office as she'd asked. He made sure to show up late though.

"Kakashi, you showing up late doesn't work if you had to wait at the base of the tower so that enough time has passed," the Hokage informed him, looking annoyed. Jiraiya stood off to the side, laughing quietly. Apparently he'd found the stunt rather amusing.

Kakashi shrugged. "I wanted to know how long you would sit up there staring at me before you'd finally send someone down."

Tsunade glared at him for a moment before realizing that such an action wasn't going to really have an effect. Turning to a file on her desk, she flipped through it for a bit before finally coming to what she wanted. She stared at it for a minute, before directing her attention back at him.

"So far, we can't be entirely sure what it is that caused you to change like this. We do know that it wasn't simply a random event though," she informed him.

Rolling his eyes, Kakashi muttered under his breath, "Yeah, cause this happens every day."

Not bothering to justify that with a remark, Tsunade continued. "We have been able to find traces of chakra other than your own throughout your body, though they are very feint and completely impossible to track. It looks like the jutsu was meant to focus on your brain, though there was something there to change your body as well. Obviously this jutsu was meant to take effect very subtly so that there was no way of us stopping it or finding out who did it. I imagine your older self was feeling side effects and seeing visions of his, your, past for days, maybe even weeks, before he came to see me."

Kakashi raised his eyebrows, impressed. "You figured all that out when you could barely see the chakra?"

"Some of it is just guesswork and intuition," she answered, though there was a slight smirk there.

Jiraiya spoke up now, having remained quiet during his fellow sannin's explanation. "One thing we can also infer is that whoever did this must have known something about your past. It would seem oddly convenient that they'd given you your memories of such a specific point in time, possibly the worst point in time that they could have possibly picked."

Kakashi found himself nodding along, though he wasn't entirely sure what to say. If what Jiraiya said was true, then there was obviously someone after him who, at the very least, had a great deal against him. "So, what now?" he asked them.

"I'll be doing some research in the hopes of discovering if anything similar to this has ever been performed. I've already sent a team to our allies in the sand to see if they can tell us what we might be dealing with. For now, you're just going to have to continue as you have been," Tsunade informed him, sounding apologetic.

At this, Kakashi grimaced. While his life had become more bearable over the last couple days, he still wasn't happy. He hadn't put so much work into becoming so strong only to spend his time messing around with genins and hoping that he might get turned back into an adult eventually. That was not what he wanted. Either he was a kid and had his life to live or he wasn't an adult and the pain of losing his sensei wouldn't have to be so damn fresh in his mind.

"Alright," he said at last, feeling that there wasn't really much more to say.

"Kakashi, we'll find something that's up. No one can perform a jutsu this powerful without us finding out how," Jiraiya informed him. "It's us, after all," he added, gesturing to himself and Tsunade.

"Yeah." Kakashi sighed, before getting an idea. He didn't think they'd go for it, but knew that he had to give it his best shot. "So, can I go on a mission now?"

"Haven't you been listening!" they both shouted at him at once.

"Whoever did this to you is obviously out there, you can't just go out on missions when they could be after you!" Jiraiya shouted.

"You little brat, just because you don't care if you get hurt, I have to stitch you up afterwards and I am not going to let you die!" Tsunade screamed, nearly breaking the desk in front of her.

Kakashi couldn't help but laugh at the onslaught from the two of them. They were so easy to get worked up. "What if it was just easy missions? I could go with another team and then you don't have to worry," he suggested hopefully.

At this, Tsunade and Jiraiya looked at each other before looking back at him. "You're actually willing to do easy missions?" the blond sannin asked.

The small jounin nodded.

"With a genin team?"

Another nod.

"I'll see if there are any D rank missions to assign team Gai," Tsunade said, smirking wickedly at him.

Kakashi's face displayed as much horror as was physically possible with a mask on. "That wasn't quite what I meant. Even they're not going to like that," he argued.

"Come now Kakashi, think of it as reliving your childhood. Maybe if you do a couple D rank missions for me, I'll give you and the entire team a higher ranked mission. If you're really nice to me, I might even give you a mission outside the village," Tsunade offered. The look on her face was victorious; she knew she'd already won.

Much as Kakashi didn't want to have to do low-rank missions, he was willing to do just about anything to get out of the village, even if just for a few hours. A real mission outside the village, even a low-ranking one, would be great. So, if that meant that he had to run around doing errands and catching animals for a while, he supposed it would be worth it.

"Fine," he said with a nod. "I'll do it."

"Great, why don't you go let Gai's team know what you just signed them up for," Tsunade informed him, still looking far too pleased with herself.

Grumbling, Kakashi left the room. He made sure to shoot a glare at Jiraiya, who had been laughing at him ever since his fellow sannin had brought up the topic of low leveled missions. Somehow, Kakashi's glare only made him laugh harder.


End file.
